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Light beams can be characterized by their complex spatial profiles in both intensity and phase. Analogous to time signals, which can be decomposed into multiple orthogonal frequency functions, a light beam can also be decomposed into a set…
Levitation optomechanics exploits the unique mechanical properties of trapped nano-objects in vacuum in order to address some of the limitations of clamped nanomechanical resonators. In particular, its performance is foreseen to contribute…
The dynamics of an optically trapped particle are often determined by measuring intensity shifts of the back-scattered light from the particle using position sensitive detectors. We present a technique which measures the phase of the…
Multiparameter estimation is a general problem that aims at measuring unknown physical quantities, obtaining high precision in the process. In this context, the adoption of quantum resources promises a substantial boost in the achievable…
We report on the use of an interferometric weak value technique to amplify very small transverse deflections of an optical beam. By entangling the beam's transverse degrees of freedom with the which-path states of a Sagnac interferometer,…
Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy enables optical imaging and characterization of plasmonic devices with nanometer-scale resolution well below the diffraction limit. This technique enables developers to probe and understand…
Interferometry is a prime technique for modern precision measurements. Atoms, unlike light, have significant interactions with electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields, making their use in interferometric applications particularly…
The displacement field of an object surface can be measured by using speckle interferometry. This technique is based on the phenomenon of laser speckle and consists in correlating speckle interferograms taken after and before the…
Cavity optomechanical systems are approaching a strong-coupling regime where the coherent dynamics of nanomechanical resonators can be manipulated and controlled by optical fields at the single photon level. Here we propose an…
Microwave, submillimetre-wave, and far-infrared phased arrays are of considerable importance for astronomy. We consider the behaviour imaging phased arrays and interferometric phased arrays from a functional perspective. It is shown that…
The momentum transfer between a photon and an object defines a fundamental limit for the precision with which the object can be measured. If the object oscillates at a frequency $\Omega_0$, this measurement back-action adds quanta…
A major challenge in optical quantum processing is implementing large, stable interferometers. Here we propose a virtual, measurement-based interferometer that is programmed on the fly solely by the choice of homodyne measurement angles.…
Adaptive optics enables the deployment of interferometer-based spectroscopy without the need for moving parts necessary for scanning the interferometer arms. Here, we employ a Michelson Interferometer in conjunction with a Spatial Light…
We describe the measurement of the secular motion of a levitated nanoparticle in a Paul trap with a CMOS camera. This simple method enables us to reach signal-to-noise ratios as good as 10$^{6}$ with a displacement sensitivity better than…
Diverse applications in photonics and microwave engineering require a means of measurement of the instantaneous frequency of a signal. A photonic implementation typically applies an interferometer equipped with three or more output ports to…
Optical tweezers find applications in various fields, ranging from biology to physics. One of the fundamental steps necessary to perform quantitative measurements using trapped particles is the calibration of the tweezer's spring constant.…
We experimentally demonstrate a non-imaging approach to displacement measurement for complex scattering materials. By spatially controlling the wave front of the light that incidents on the material we concentrate the scattered light in a…
Fourier transform infrared nanospectroscopy (nano-FTIR) is a novel, increasingly adopted characterization method that leverages decades of established knowledge in infrared spectroscopy at the nanoscale. It opens up new possibilities in the…
The amplification obtained using weak values is quantified through a detailed investigation of the signal to noise ratio for an optical beam deflection measurement. We show that for a given deflection, input power and beam radius, the use…
We describe a laser interferometer experiment for the undergraduate teaching laboratory that achieves picometer sensitivity in a hands-on table-top instrument. In addition to providing an introduction to interferometer physics and optical…