Related papers: Levitated optomechanics with cylindrically polariz…

Optical trapping describes the interaction between light and matter to manipulate micro-objects through momentum transfer. In the case of 3D trapping with a single beam, this is termed optical tweezers. Optical tweezers are a powerful and…

Light-induced rotation of absorbing microscopic particles by transfer of angular momentum from light to the material raises the possibility of optically driven micromachines. The phenomenon has been observed using elliptically polarized…

We demonstrate and characterize the transfer of a levitating silica nanosphere between two optical tweezers, at low pressure. Both optical traps are mounted on the heads of optical fibers and placed on translation stages in vacuum chambers.…

Levitated particles are an ideal tool for measuring weak forces and investigating quantum mechanics in macroscopic objects. Arrays of two or more of these particles have been suggested for improving force sensitivity and entangling…

The development of laser cooling coupled with the ability to trap atoms and ions in electromagnetic fields, has revolutionised atomic and optical physics, leading to the development of atomic clocks, high-resolution spectroscopy and…

We propose a scheme to create and transfer thermal squeezed states and random-phase coherent states in a system of two interacting levitated nanoparticles. In this coupled levitated system, we create a thermal squeezed state of motion in…

Trapping of single ultracold atoms is an important tool for applications ranging from quantum computation and communication to sensing. However, most experimental setups, while very precise and versatile, can only be operated in specialized…

Levitated optomechanics is an emerging field in quantum science that explores the quantum motion of mesoscopic particles levitated in a vacuum. Expanding this approach to particles with intrinsic quantum defects opens new opportunities for…

Radiation pressure forces in a focussed laser beam can be used to trap microscopic absorbing particles against a substrate. Calculations based on momentum transfer considerations show that stable trapping occurs before the beam waist, and…

Optical tweezers have revolutionized particle manipulation at the micro- and nanoscale, playing a critical role in fields such as plasmonics, biophysics, and nanotechnology. While traditional optical trapping methods primarily rely on…

Laser trapping and interfacing of laser-cooled atoms in an optical fiber network is an important capability for quantum information science. Following the pioneering work of Balykin et al. and Vetsch et al., we propose a robust method of…

We investigate a setup where a cloud of atoms is trapped in an optical lattice potential of a standing wave laser field which is created by retro-reflection on a micro-membrane. The membrane vibrations itself realize a quantum mechanical…

We study the creation of an optical centrifuge for the controlled rotation of levitated nanorotors within an optical tweezer. The optical centrifuge is created by rapidly rotating the linear polarization of the tightly focused optical field…

Laser-cooled atoms coupled to nanophotonic structures constitute a powerful research platform for the exploration of new regimes of light-matter interaction. While the initialization of the atomic internal degrees of freedom in these…

We confine a microparticle in a hybrid potential created by a Paul trap and a dual-beam optical trap. We transfer the particle between the Paul trap and the optical trap at different pressures and study the influence of feedback cooling on…

We propose a novel cooling scheme for realising single photon sideband cooling on particles trapped in a state-dependent optical potential. We develop a master rate equation from an ab-initio model and find that in experimentally feasible…

Microscopically controlled neutral atoms in optical tweezers and lattices have led to exciting advances in the study of quantum information and quantum many-body systems. The light shifts of atomic levels from the trapping potential in…

Levitated nanoparticles in vacuum are prime candidates for generating macroscopic quantum superposition states of massive objects. Most protocols for preparing these states necessitate coherent expansion beyond the scale of the zero-point…

The levitation of condensed matter in vacuum allows the study of its physical properties under extreme isolation from the environment. It also offers a venue to investigate quantum mechanics with large systems, at the transition between the…

We study a nanofabricated silicon rod levitated in an optical trap. By manipulating the polarization of the light we gain full control over the ro-translational dynamics of the rod. We are able to trap both its centre-of-mass and align it…