Related papers: Position measurement of a levitated nanoparticle v…
The present paper describes the experimental implementation of a measuring technique employing a slowly moving, near resonant, optical standing wave in the context of trapped ions. It is used to measure several figures of merit that are…
Observation time is the key parameter for improving the precision of measurements of gravitational quantum states of particles levitating above a reflecting surface. We propose a new method of long confinement in such states of atoms,…
Levitated optomechanics is showing potential for precise force measurements. Here, we report a case study, to show experimentally the capacity of such a force sensor. Using an electric field as a tool to detect a Coulomb force applied onto…
We use an optimal control protocol to cool one mode of the center of mass motion of an optically levitated nanoparticle. The feedback technique relies on exerting a Coulomb force on a charged particle with a pair of electrodes and follows…
Trapped ions are sensitive detectors of weak forces and electric fields that excite ion motion. Here measurements of the center-of-mass motion of a trapped-ion crystal that are phase-coherent with an applied weak external force are…
The Brownian motion of a particle hotter than its environment is an iconic out-of-equilibrium system. Its study provides valuable insights into nanoscale thermal effects. Notably, it supplies an excellent diagnosis of thermal effects in…
Near-fields around nanophotonic structures and waveguides can be used to optically interface particles ranging from atoms and molecules to microscopic biological and synthetic particles. Due to the strong, non-linear dependence of the…
The motion of atoms and nanoparticles in a trap formed by sequences of counter-propagating light pulses has been analyzed. The atomic state is described by a wave function constructed with the use of the Monte Carlo method, whereas the…
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…
We measure interaction forces between pairs of charged PMMA colloidal particles suspended in a relatively low-polar medium (5 $\lesssim \epsilon \lesssim$ 8) directly from the deviations of particle positions inside two time-shared optical…
We present the design and construction of a new experimental apparatus for the trapping of single Ba$^+$ ions in the center of curvature of an optical-quality hemispherical mirror. We describe the layout, fabrication and integration of the…
We demonstrate a novel technique for the measurement of the charge carried by a colloidal particle. The technique uses the phenomenon of the resonance of a particle held in an optical tweezers trap and driven by a sinusoidal electric field.…
Quantum mechanics (QM) and General relativity (GR), also known as the theory of gravity, are the two pillars of modern physics. A matter-wave interferometer with a massive particle, can test numerous fundamental ideas, including the spatial…
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…
Matter-wave interferometry performed with massive objects elucidates their wave nature and thus tests the quantum superposition principle at large scales. Whereas standard quantum theory places no limit on particle size, alternative, yet…
We propose and evaluate a new type of optical force microscope based on a standing wave optical trap. Our microscope, calibrated in-situ and operating in a dynamic mode, is able to trap, without heating, a single metallic nanoparticle of…
Achieving quantum-limited motional control of optically trapped particles beyond the sub-micrometer scale is an outstanding problem in levitated optomechanics. A key obstacle is solving the light scattering problem and identifying particle…
Optically-levitated dielectric objects are promising for precision force, acceleration, torque, and rotation sensing due to their extreme environmental decoupling. While many levitated opto-mechanics experiments employ spherical objects,…
Levitated dielectric particles in a vacuum have emerged as a new platform in quantum science, with applications ranging from precision acceleration and force sensing to testing quantum physics beyond the microscopic domain. Traditionally,…
In this work, we present a novel technique to directly measure the phase shift of the optical signal scattered by single plasmonic nanoparticles in a diffraction-limited laser focus. We accomplish this by equipping an inverted confocal…