Related papers: Approaching the Standard Quantum Limit of Mechanic…
We demonstrate the integration of a mesoscopic ferromagnetic needle with a cavity optomechanical torsional resonator, and its use for quantitative determination of the needle's magnetic properties, as well as amplification and cooling of…
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…
Precise measurements of the displacement of, and force acting on, a mechanical oscillator can be performed by coupling the oscillator to an optical cavity. Brownian thermal forces represent a fundamental limit to measurement sensitivity…
Preparing and manipulating quantum states of mechanical resonators is a highly interdisciplinary undertaking that now receives enormous interest for its far-reaching potential in fundamental and applied science. Up to now, only nanoscale…
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…
The observation of quantum phenomena in macroscopic mechanical oscillators has been a subject of interest since the inception of quantum mechanics. Prerequisite to this regime are both preparation of the mechanical oscillator at low phonon…
We experimentally demonstrate the high-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micro-mechanical resonator and its cooling by active control. Coating a low-loss mirror upon the resonator, we have built an optomechanical sensor based on a very…
Optical measurements of a nanoscale silicon optomechanical crystal cavity with a mechanical resonance frequency of 3.6GHz are performed at sub-kelvin temperatures. We infer optical-absorption-induced heating and damping of the mechanical…
Experimental tests of gravity's fundamental nature call for mechanical systems in the quantum regime while being sensitive to gravity. Torsion pendula, historically vital in studies of classical gravity, are ideal for extending…
Optomechanical transduction is demonstrated for nanoscale torsional resonators evanescently coupled to optical microdisk whispering gallery mode resonators. The on-chip, integrated devices are measured using a fully fiber-based system,…
The optical lever is a precision displacement sensor with broad applications. In principle, it can track the motion of a mechanical oscillator with added noise at the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL); however, demonstrating this performance…
A vacuum compatible cryogenic accelerometer is presented which will reach $<0.5$ p$g$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ sensitivity from 1 mHz to 10 Hz with a maximum sensitivity of 10 f$g$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ around 10 Hz. This figure can be translated to 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…
Cavity optomechanics provides a unique platform for controlling micromechanical systems by means of optical fields that crosses the classical-quantum boundary to achieve solid foundations for quantum technologies. Currently, optomechanical…
Cooling down nanomechanical force probes is a generic strategy to enhance their sensitivities through the concomitant reduction of their thermal noise and mechanical damping rates. However, heat conduction mechanisms become less efficient…
There is a storied scientific history in the role of mechanical instruments for the measurement of fundamental physical interactions. Among these include the detection of magnetic torques via a displacement of a compliant mechanical sensor…
Ponderomotive squeezing of light, where a mechanical oscillator creates quantum correlations between the phase and amplitude of the interacting light field, is a canonical signature of the quantum regime of optomechanics. At room…
We present optical sideband spectroscopy measurements of a mesoscopic mechanical oscillator cooled near its quantum ground state. The mechanical oscillator, corresponding to a 3.99GHz acoustic mode of a patterned silicon nanobeam, is…
Nano- and micromechanical oscillators with high quality (Q) factors have gained much attention for their potential application as ultrasensitive detectors. In contrast to micro-fabricated devices, optically trapped nanoparticles in vacuum…
In real-time quantum feedback protocols, the record of a continuous measurement is used to stabilize a desired quantum state. Recent years have seen highly successful applications in a variety of well-isolated micro-systems, including…