Related papers: Recent Progress with the KWISP Force Sensor
We report on a first measurement with a sensitive opto-mechanical force sensor designed for the direct detection of coupling of real chameleons to matter. These dark energy candidates could be produced in the Sun and stream unimpeded to…
An ultra-sensitive opto-mechanical force sensor has been built and tested in the optics laboratory at INFN Trieste. Its application to experiments in the Dark Energy sector, such as those for Chameleon-type WISPs, is particularly…
Light scalar fields can drive the accelerated expansion of the universe. Hence, they are obvious dark energy candidates. To make such models compatible with tests of General Relativity in the solar system and "fifth force" searches on…
The search for non-Newtonian forces has been pursued following many different paths. Recently it was suggested that hypothetical chameleon interactions, which might explain the mechanisms behind dark energy, could be detected in a…
A force measurement technique has been developed that utilizes a clamped fiber optic element both as a cantilever and as a highly sensitive probe of the static and dynamic displacement of a sample that is mounted near its free end. Light…
Piezoelectric quartz tuning forks have been employed as the force sensor in a dynamic mode scanning force microscope operating at temperatures down to 1.7 K at He-gas pressures of typically 5 mbar. An electrochemically etched tungsten tip…
Levitated optomechanics is showing potential for precise force measurements. Here, we report a case study, to show experimentally the capacity of such a force sensor. Using an electric field as a tool to detect a Coulomb force applied onto…
A high sensitivity force sensor based on dielectric microspheres in vacuum, optically trapped by a single, upward-propagating laser beam, is described. Off-axis parabolic mirrors are used both to focus the 1064~nm trapping beam and to…
In this work, the force due to radiation pressure is measured with sub-10 pN sensitivity, corresponding to less than 2 mW of optical power. The apparatus adds homemade reflectors to a commercial Cavendish balance, which consists of a…
The radiation pressure due to reflected chameleons is suggested for their detection. Sensitive photon radiation pressure or force measuring techniques could become the new antennas for chameleons or other particles with similar properties,…
Oscillators based on levitated particles are promising for the development of ultrasensitive force detectors. The theoretical performance of levitated nanomechanical sensors is usually characterized by the so-called thermal noise limit…
We present the instrumentation and measurement scheme of a new Casimir force probe that bridges Casimir force measurements at microscale and macroscale. A metallized high Q silicon nitride nanomembrane resonator is employed as a sensitive…
The sub-micron range in the field of short distance interactions has yet to be opened to experimental investigation, and may well hold the key to understanding al least part of the dark matter puzzle. The aKWISP (advanced-KWISP) project…
Optically trapped nanospheres in high-vaccum experience little friction and hence are promising for ultra-sensitive force detection. Here we demonstrate measurement times exceeding $10^5$ seconds and zeptonewton force sensitivity with…
We report on the realization of a quantum sensor based on trapped atom interferometry in an optical lattice for the measurement of atom-surface interactions, with sub-micrometer-level control of the mean atom-surface separation distance.…
We report on a new search for solar chameleons with the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST). A GridPix detector was used to search for soft X-ray photons in the energy range from 200 eV to 10 keV from converted solar chameleons. No…
The best laboratory constraints on strongly coupled chameleon fields come not from tests of gravity per se but from precision measurements of the Casimir force. The chameleonic force between two nearby bodies is more akin to a Casimir-like…
All physical interactions are mediated by forces. Ultra-sensitive force measurements are therefore a crucial tool for investigating the fundamental physics of magnetic, atomic, quantum, and surface phenomena. Laser cooled trapped atomic…
In force sensing, optomechanics, and quantum motion experiments, it is typically advantageous to create lightweight, compliant mechanical elements with the lowest possible force noise. Here we report wafer-scale batch fabrication and…
We describe a transducer for low-temperature atomic force microscopy based on electromechanical coupling due to a strain-dependent kinetic inductance of a superconducting nanowire. The force sensor is a bending triangular plate (cantilever)…