Coupling trapped cold neutral atoms to a microring photonic circuit

The integration of cold neutral atoms with nanophotonic circuits offers significant potential as a light-matter interface for a wide range of applications ranging from fundamental studies in quantum optics, quantum many- body physics, quantum networks. Here, we demonstrate atom-photon interactions using an efficiently-coupled nanophotonic microring circuit on a chip. Cold atoms are prepared above the chip, and directed to the near field region of a whispering-gallery mode of a microring resonator by an optical dipole potential. Delivered atoms interact with the mode of a resonant light field coupled to the resonator. This demonstration of efficiently guided atoms and their interaction with a microring photonic circuit paves the way towards realizing an on-chip chiral atom-light interface.