Related papers: Recent Progress with the KWISP Force Sensor
High precision interferometers are the building blocks of precision metrology and the ultimate interferometric sensitivity is limited by the quantum noise. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a compact quantum interferometer…
The operating principle of squeeze-film pressure sensors is based on the pressure dependence of a membrane's resonance frequency, caused by the compression of the surrounding gas which changes the resonator stiffness. To realize such…
We describe a sensor for the measurement of thin dielectric layers capable of operation in a variety of environments. The sensor is obtained by microfabricating a capacitor with interleaved aluminum fingers, exposed to the dielectric to be…
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been constantly supporting nanosciences and nanotechnologies for over 30 years, being present in many fields from condensed matter physics to biology. It enables measuring very weak forces at the nanoscale,…
Optomechanics allows the transduction of weak forces to optical fields, with many efforts approaching the standard quantum limit. We consider force-sensing using a mirror-in-the-middle setup and use two coupled cavity modes originated from…
We report on measurements of the Casimir force in a sphere-plane geometry using a cryogenic force microscope to move the force probe in situ over different materials. We show how the electrostatic environment of the interacting surfaces…
Trapped ions are sensitive detectors of weak forces and electric fields that excite ion motion. Here measurements of the center-of-mass motion of a trapped-ion crystal that are phase-coherent with an applied weak external force are…
The status of the solar axion search with the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) will be presented. Recent results obtained by the use of $^3$He as a buffer gas has allowed us to extend our sensitivity to higher axion masses than our…
Spatially-dense pressure measurements are needed on curved surfaces in marine environments to provide marine vehicles with the detailed, real-time measurements of the near-field flow necessary to improve performance through flow control. To…
An imaging calorimeter has been designed and is being built for the PAMELA satellite-borne experiment. The physics goals of the experiment are the measurement of the flux of antiprotons, positrons and light isotopes in the cosmic radiation.…
A continuous quantum field, such as a propagating beam of light, may be characterized by a squeezing spectrum that is inhomogeneous in frequency. We point out that homodyne detectors, which are commonly employed to detect quantum squeezing,…
In this study, we have proposed a new type of tactile sensor that is capable of detecting the stiffness of soft objects. The sensor consists of a brass cylinder with an axial bore. An iron core can easily move inside the bore. Three…
Electrostatic analyzers of different designs have been used since the earliest days of the space age, beginning with the very earliest solar wind measurements made by Mariner 2 en route to Venus in 1962. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP)…
We describe the optical characterisation of two silicon cold-electron bolometers each consisting of a small ($32 \times 14~\mathrm{\mu m}$) island of degenerately doped silicon with superconducting aluminium contacts. Radiation is coupled…
The XAFS beamline at Elettra Synchrotron in Trieste combines X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to provide chemically specific structural information of materials. It operates in the energy range 2.4-27 keV by using a…
Nanomechanical oscillators are at the heart of ultrasensitive detectors of force, mass and motion. As these detectors progress to even better sensitivity, they will encounter measurement limits imposed by the laws of quantum mechanics. For…
High-frequency atomic force microscopy has enabled extraordinary new science through large bandwidth, high speed measurements of atomic and molecular structures. However, traditional optical detection schemes restrict the dimensions, and…
A new technique was developed for studying the mechanical behavior of nano-scale thin metal films on substrate is presented. The test structure was designed on a novel "paddle" cantilever beam specimens with dimensions as few hundred…
Design and operational performance of table-top measurement apparatus is presented towards direct Planck constant traceable high accuracy and high precision small forces and optical power measurements within SI unit system. An…
We are developing an imaging polarimeter by combining a fine-pixel CMOS image sensor with a coded aperture mask as part of the cipher project, aiming to achieve X-ray polarimetry in the energy range of…