Related papers: A background-free optically levitated charge senso…
The best clocks to date control the atomic motion by trapping the sample in an optical lattice and then interrogate the atomic transition by shining on these atoms a distinct laser of controlled frequency. In order to perform both tasks…
In precision force sensing of multi-mechanical mode optomechanical systems, coherent interference can decouple certain degenerate vibrational modes from the cavity field, leading to incomplete information regarding the measured signal. In…
In a 'controlled dephasing' experiment [1-3], an interferometer loses its coherence due to entanglement with a controlled quantum system ('which path' detector). In experiments that were conducted thus far in mesoscopic systems only partial…
Although general purpose robotic manipulators are becoming more capable at manipulating various objects, their ability to manipulate millimeter-scale objects are usually very limited. On the other hand, ultrasonic levitation devices have…
We present a new capacitive sensor for displacement measurement in a Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA) which allows dynamical measurements in the range of 0-100 Hz. This sensor measures the relative displacement between two macroscopic opaque…
Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool to detect compact matter on very different mass scales. Of particular importance is the fact that lensing is sensitive to both luminous and dark matter alike. Depending on the mass scale, all lensing…
Optically trapped Silica nanoparticles are a promising tool for precise sensing of gravitational or inertial forces and fundamental physics, including tests of quantum mechanics at 'large' mass scales. This field, called levitated…
Atom-interferometric quantum sensors could revolutionize navigation, civil engineering, and Earth observation. However, operation in real-world environments is challenging due to external interference, platform noise, and constraints on…
We demonstrate how the ineluctable presence of thermal noise alters the measurement of forces acting on microscopic and nanoscopic objects. We quantify this effect exemplarily for a Brownian particle near a wall subjected to gravitational…
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 present the design and characterization of a low-noise environment for measuring the electron's electric dipole moment (EDM) with a beam of molecules. To minimize magnetic Johnson noise from metals, the design features ceramic electric…
We derive the best possible bounds that can be placed on Yukawa- and chameleon-like modifications to the Newtonian gravitational potential with a cavity optomechanical quantum sensor. By modelling the effects on an oscillating source-sphere…
Optical tweezers are highly versatile laser traps for neutral microparticles, with fundamental applications in physics and in single molecule cell biology. Force measurements are performed by converting the stiffness response to…
Optomechanical systems have been exploited in ultrasensitive measurements of force, acceleration, and magnetic fields. The fundamental limits for optomechanical sensing have been extensively studied and now well understood -- the intrinsic…
The perception and recognition of the surroundings is one of the essential tasks for a robot. With preliminary knowledge about a target object, it can perform various manipulation tasks such as rolling motion, palpation, and force control.…
Optomechanical systems are often used for the measurement of weak forces. Feedback loops can be used in these systems for achieving noise reduction. Here we show that even though feedback is not able to improve the signal to noise ratio of…
Cavity optomechanical (COM) sensors, enhanced by quantum squeezing or entanglement, have become powerful tools for measuring ultra-weak forces with high precision and sensitivity. However, these sensors usually rely on linear COM couplings,…
The radiation-pressure driven interaction of a coherent light field with a mechanical oscillator induces correlations between the amplitude and phase quadratures of the light. These correlations result in squeezed light -- light with…
Matter wave interferometers with large momentum transfers, irrespective of specific implementations, will face a universal dephasing due to relative accelerations between the interferometric mass and the associated apparatus. Here we…
We introduce and theoretically analyze a scheme to prepare and detect non-Gaussian quantum states of an optically levitated particle via the interaction with a light pulse that generates cubic and inverted potentials. We show that this…