Related papers: Minimizing the Ground Effect for Photophoretically…

We investigate the levitation of a drop gently deposited onto the inner wall of a rotating hollow cylinder. For a sufficient velocity of the wall, the drop steadily levitates over a thin air film and reaches a stable angular position in the…

Laboratory experiments provide a valuable complement to explore the fundamental physics of space plasmas without the limitations inherent to spacecraft measurements. Specifically, experiments overcome the restriction that spacecraft…

Optomechanics, the study of the mechanical interaction of light with matter, has proven to be a fruitful area of research that has yielded many notable achievements, including the direct detection of gravitational waves in kilometer-scale…

The LISA Pathfinder charge management device was responsible for neutralising the cosmic ray induced electric charge that inevitably accumulated on the free-falling test masses at the heart of the experiment. We present measurements made on…

Optomechanics is concerned with the use of light to control mechanical objects. As a field, it has been hugely successful in the production of precise and novel sensors, the development of low-dissipation nanomechanical devices, and the…

When photons propagate in vacuum they may fluctuate into matter pairs thus allowing the vacuum to be polarised. This linear effect leads to charge screening and renormalisation. When exposed to an intense background field a nonlinear effect…

The cosmic neutrino background is a key prediction of Big Bang cosmology which has not been observed yet. The movement of the earth through this neutrino bath creates a force on a pendulum, as if it was exposed to a cosmic wind. We revise…

Radiation pressure can be used to enable optomechanical control and manipulation of the quantum state of a mechanical oscillator. Optomechanical interaction can also be mediated by photothermal effects which, although frequently overlooked,…

A key challenge in performing experiments with microparticles is controlling their adhesion to substrates. For example, levitation of a microparticle initially resting on a surface requires overcoming the surface adhesion forces to deliver…

We demonstrate here a proof-of-concept experiment that microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can be actuated using photoelectrowetting. In order to demonstrate this, a 30 \mu m thick aluminum cantilever is actuated using an ordinary white…

We theoretically show that the dipole force of an ensemble of quantum emitters embedded in a dielectric nanosphere can be exploited to achieve near-field optical levitation. The key ingredient is that the polarizability from the ensemble of…

Transporting solids of different sizes is an essential process in the evolution of protoplanetary disks and planet formation. Large solids are supposed to drift inward; high-temperature minerals found in comets are assumed to have been…

Magnetic fields are believed to play an essential role in astrophysical jets with observations suggesting the presence of helical magnetic fields. Here, we present three-dimensional (3D) ideal MHD simulationsof the Caltech plasma jet…

With the demand for improved performance in microfabricated devices, the necessity to apply greater electric fields and voltages becomes evident. When operating in vacuum, the voltage is typically limited by surface flashover forming along…

The testing of atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion intakes is an important step in the development of functional propulsion systems which provide sustained drag compensation in very low Earth orbits. To make satellite operations more…

We point out that a spatially-varying electric field can be used to cancel the effect of gravity in liquid mixtures by coupling to the different components' permittivities. Cancellation occurs if the system under consideration is small…

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…

In many physical and biological systems, particles and microorganisms move in the proximity of an interface. Understanding the dynamics of a particle suspended close to an interface is not only important conceptually but is crucial for…

Using optical tweezers and a haptic device, microspheres having diameters ranging from 3 to 4 um (floating in a fluid solution) are manipulated in order to form patterns of coupled optical microresonators by assembling the spheres via…

We demonstrate the feasibility of levitating a small mirror using only radiation pressure. In our scheme, the mirror is supported by a tripod where each leg of the tripod is a Fabry-Perot cavity. The macroscopic state of the mirror is…