Optical potential mapping with a levitated nanoparticle at sub-wavelength distances from a membrane
Abstract
The controllable positioning of a vacuum-levitated object near a material surface is of importance for studying short-range forces, such as Casimir forces, interfacial friction forces, or gravity in yet unexplored parameter regimes. Here we optically levitate a nanoparticle in a laser beam strongly focused on a dielectric membrane. By investigating the motion of the trapped particle in vacuum, we map the position-dependent optical potential of the particle. We interferometrically measure the distance between the particle and the surface and demonstrate stable trapping in sub-wavelength proximity of the dielectric surface. Our work is important for the development of on-chip levitated optomechanics and for measuring short-range forces at sub-wavelength distances.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1803.04917,
title = {Optical potential mapping with a levitated nanoparticle at sub-wavelength distances from a membrane},
author = {Rozenn Diehl and Erik Hebestreit and René Reimann and Martin Frimmer and Felix Tebbenjohanns and Lukas Novotny},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.04917},
year = {2018}
}