Related papers: Torsional optomechanics of a levitated nonspherica…
Optically levitated nonspherical particles in vacuum are excellent candidates for torque sensing, rotational quantum mechanics, high-frequency gravitational wave detection, and multiple other applications. Many potential applications, such…
Manipulating the motions of macroscopic objects near their quantum mechanical uncertainties has been desired in diverse fields, including fundamental physics, sensing, and transducers. Despite significant progresses in ground-state cooling…
We investigate experimentally the dynamics of a non-spherical levitated nanoparticle in vacuum. In addition to translation and rotation motion, we observe the light torque-induced precession and nutation of the trapped particle. We provide…
The preparation of nonclassical states of mechanical motion conclusively proves that control over such motion has reached the quantum level. We investigate ways to achieve nonclassical states of macroscopic mechanical oscillators,…
We review recent works on optomechanics of optically trapped microspheres and nanoparticles in vacuum, which provide an ideal system for studying macroscopic quantum mechanics and ultrasensitive force detection. An optically trapped…
Levitated optomechanics has great potentials in precision measurements, thermodynamics, macroscopic quantum mechanics and quantum sensing. Here we synthesize and optically levitate silica nanodumbbells in high vacuum. With a linearly…
An optically levitated nonspherical nanoparticle can exhibit both librational and translational vibrations due to orientational and translational confinements of the optical tweezer, respectively. Usually, the frequency of its librational…
Torque sensors such as the torsion balance enabled the first determination of the gravitational constant by Cavendish and the discovery of Coulomb's law. Torque sensors are also widely used in studying small-scale magnetism, the Casimir…
We demonstrate the optomechanical cooling of a tapered optical nanofiber by coupling the polarization of light to the mechanical angular momentum of the system. The coupling is enabled by birefringence in the fiber and does not make use of…
In optomechanical systems, the libration and rotation of nanoparticles offer profound insights for ultrasensitive torque measurement and macroscopic quantum superpositions. Achievements include transitioning libration to rotation up to 6…
The ability to trap and to manipulate individual atoms is at the heart of current implementations of quantum simulations, quantum computing, and long-distance quantum communication. Controlling the motion of larger particles opens up yet…
A levitated non-spherical nanoparticle in a vacuum is ideal for studying quantum rotations and is an extremely sensitive torque and force detector. It has been proposed to probe fundamental particle-surface interactions such as the Casimir…
Nanoparticles levitated in vacuum can be set to spin at ultimate frequencies, limited only by the tensile strength of the material. At such high frequencies, drastic changes to the dynamics of solid-state quantum excitations are to be…
Using light to measure an object's motion is central to operating mechanical sensors that probe forces and fields. Cavity optomechanical systems embed mechanical resonators inside optical resonators. This enhances the sensitivity of…
Light that carries linear or angular momentum can interact with a mechanical object giving rise to optomechanical effects. In particular, a photon transfers its intrinsic angular momentum to an object when the object either absorbs the…
Realizing a large-scale fully controllable quantum system is a challenging task in current physical research and has broad applications. Ultracold atom and molecule arrays in optical tweezers in vacuum have been used for quantum simulation,…
We theoretically investigate PT symmetry, induced mechanical lasing and force sensing in an optically levitated nanoparticle with coupled oscillation modes. The coupling in the levitated system is created by the modulation of an asymmetric…
Optically levitated and cooled nanoparticles are a new quantum system whose application to the creation of non-classical states of motion and quantum limited sensing is fundamentally limited by recoil and bulk heating. We study the creation…
We report quantum ground state cooling of a levitated nanoparticle in a room temperature environment. Using coherent scattering into an optical cavity we cool the center of mass motion of a $143$ nm diameter silica particle by more than $7$…
Quantum measurements of mechanical systems can produce optical squeezing via ponderomotive forces. Its observation requires high environmental isolation and efficient detection, typically achieved by using optical cavities and cryogenic…