Related papers: Nanofabricated torsion pendulums for tabletop grav…
Torsion pendulums provide an opportunity to trap large masses in a potential weak enough to explore two-body gravitation. Cooled to, and then released from a ground state, weak quantum effects, including those from gravity, might reveal…
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…
We explore a new class of chipscale torsion pendula formed by Si$_3$N$_4$ nanoribbon suspensions. Owing to their unique hierarchy of gravitational, tensile, and elastic stiffness, the devices exhibit damping rates of $\sim 10\;\mu$Hz and…
We report on the design and sensitivity of a new torsion pendulum for measuring the performance of ultra-precise inertial sensors and for the development of associated technologies for space-based gravitational wave observatories and…
Probing the possibility of entanglement generation through gravity offers a path to tackle the question of whether gravitational fields possess a quantum mechanical nature. A potential realization necessitates systems with low-frequency…
Measuring gravitational interactions on sub-100-$\mu$m length scales offers a window into physics beyond the Standard Model. However, short-range gravity experiments are limited by the ability to position sufficiently massive objects to…
Progress and plans are reported for a program of gravitational physics experiments using cryogenic torsion pendula undergoing large amplitude torsional oscillation. The program includes a UC Irvine project to measure the gravitational…
Torsion pendulums have been widely used in physical experiments, because their small restoring forces are suitable for tiny force measurement. Recently, some applications such as low-frequency gravity gradiometers have been proposed by…
Interfacing quantum mechanics and gravity is one of the great open questions in natural science. Micromechanical oscillators have been suggested as a plausible platform to carry out these experiments. We present an experimental design…
We propose a thought experiment, based on a mechanism that is reminiscent of Cavendish's torsion balance, to investigate the possible quantum nature of the gravitational field generated by the quantum superposition state of a massive…
The contact mechanics of individual, very small particles with other particles and walls is studied using a nanoindenter setup that allows normal and lateral displacement control and measurement of the respective forces. The sliding,…
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…
A new technique was developed for studying the mechanical behavior of nano-scale thin metal films on substrate is presented. The test structure was designed on a novel "paddle" cantilever beam specimens with dimensions as few hundred…
Precise measurements of the displacement of, and force acting on, a mechanical oscillator can be performed by coupling the oscillator to an optical cavity. Brownian thermal forces represent a fundamental limit to measurement sensitivity…
Precision sensing and manipulation of milligram-scale mechanical oscillators has attracted growing interest in the fields of table-top explorations of gravity and tests of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. Torsional oscillators…
An optically levitated nanoparticle in vacuum is a paradigm optomechanical system for sensing and studying macroscopic quantum mechanics. While its center-of-mass motion has been investigated intensively, its torsional vibration has only…
We show that torsion resonators can experience massive dissipation dilution due to nanoscale strain, and draw a connection to a century-old theory from the torsion balance community which suggests that a simple torsion ribbon is naturally…
Levitated optomechanics has great potentials in precision measurements, thermodynamics, macroscopic quantum mechanics and quantum sensing. Here we synthesize and optically levitate silica nanodumbbells in high vacuum. With a linearly…
Unifying quantum theory and general relativity is the holy grail of contemporary physics. Nonetheless, the lack of experimental evidence driving this process led to a plethora of mathematical models with a substantial impossibility of…
The torsion pendulum is a prevailing instrument for measuring small forces acting on a solid body or those between solid bodies. While it offers powerful advantages, the measurement precision suffers from thermal noises of the suspending…