Related papers: Ultrasensitive torque detection with an optically …
This paper demonstrates cooling of the center-of-mass motion of 10 $\mu$m-diameter optically levitated silica spheres to an effective temperature of $50\pm22 \mu$K, achieved by minimizing the technical pointing noise of the trapping laser.…
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 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…
The activated torsion oscillation magnetometer exploits the mechanical resonance of a cantilever beam, driven by the torque exerted on the sample by an ac field applied perpendicularly to the film plane. We describe a model for the…
Nanowires have been considered for a number of applications in nanometrology. In such a context, we have explored the possibility of using ultrathin twisted nanowires as torsion nanobalances to probe forces and torques at molecular level…
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…
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…
We propose an experiment using optically trapped and cooled dielectric microspheres for the detection of short-range forces. The center-of-mass motion of a microsphere trapped in vacuum can experience extremely low dissipation and quality…
Magnetic torque is used to actuate nano-torsional resonators, which are fabricated by focused-ion-beam milling of permalloy coated silicon nitride membranes. Optical interferometry is used to measure the mechanical response of two torsion…
In this paper, we introduce the experiment based on a sensitive torsion pendulum for measuring and calibrating small forces at nanonewton scale. The force standard for calibration is the universal gravitation between four masses separated…
Levitated ferromagnetic systems are expected to have significant potential in precision magnetic field sensing by leveraging mechanical isolation to minimize mechanical contact and associated noise. Here, we report the implementation of 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…
Miniaturized mechanical resonators have proven to be excellent force sensors. However, they usually rely on resonant sensing schemes, and their excellent performance cannot be utilized for the detection of static forces. Here, we report on…
Dissipative and dispersive optomechanical couplings are experimentally observed in a photonic crystal split-beam nanocavity optimized for detecting nanoscale sources of torque. Dissipative coupling of up to approximately $500$ MHz/nm and…
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…
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…
The thermal Casimir effect, arising from fluctuating electromagnetic fields of thermally agitated charges, induces thermosensitive forces and presents a novel approach to detecting nanoscale hot electrons, elusive yet ubiquitous in modern…
Recently it was discovered that torsion modes of strained nanoribbons exhibit dissipation dilution, giving a route to enhanced torque sensing and quantum optomechanics experiments. As with all strained nanomechanical resonators, an…
The rapid development of micro- and nanooscillators in the past decade has led to the emergence of novel sensors that are opening new frontiers in both applied and fundamental science. The potential of these novel devices is, however,…
We demonstrate a scanning force microscope, based upon a quartz tuning fork, that operates below 100 mK and in magnetic fields up to 6 T. The microscope has a conducting tip for electrical probing of nanostructures of interest, and it…