Related papers: A new capacitive sensor for displacement measureme…
Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) allows to accurately resolve the interfacial properties of fluids confined between extended surfaces. The accuracy of the SFA makes it an ubiquitous tool for the nanoscale mechanical characterization of soft…
Compliant walls are widespread in biological and engineering systems. Because of their singular nature, adapted tools are required to accurately study their rheological properties as well as the consequences of the latter within a given…
Advances in the research of intermolecular and surface interactions result from the development of new and improved measurement techniques and combinations of existing techniques. Here, we present a new miniature version of the Surface…
We present a heterodyne stabilized cavity-based interferometer scheme that can serve as a compact and high-sensitivity displacement sensor with a fringe-scale operating range. The technique, in principle, can reach a sub-femtometer noise…
The measurement of extremely small displacements is of utmost importance, both for fundamental studies [1-4], and practical applications [5-7]. One way to estimate a small displacement is to measure the Doppler shift generated in light…
A high sensitivity force sensor based on dielectric microspheres in vacuum, optically trapped by a single, upward-propagating laser beam, is described. Off-axis parabolic mirrors are used both to focus the 1064~nm trapping beam and to…
We present a method for 3D sub-nanometer displacement measurement using a set of differential optical shadow sensor. It is based on using pairs of collimated beams on opposite sides of an object that are partially blocked by it. Applied to…
We report on the realization of a displacement sensor based on an optical nanofiber. A single gold nano-sphere is deposited on top of a nanofiber and the system is placed within a standing wave which serves as a position ruler. Scattered…
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…
Mechanical resonators based on low-dimensional materials are promising for force and mass sensing experiments. The force sensitivity in these ultra-light resonators is often limited by the imprecision in the measurement of the vibrations,…
Displacement measuring interferometry is a crucial component in metrology applications. In this paper, we propose a fiber-based two-wavelength heterodyne interferometer as a compact and highly sensitive displacement sensor that can be used…
Modern interfacial science is increasingly multi-disciplinary. Unique insight into interfacial interactions requires new multimodal techniques for interrogating surfaces with simultaneous complementary physical and chemical measurements. We…
We describe a surface force apparatus designed to probe the rheology of a nanoconfined medium under large shear amplitudes (up to 500 $\mu$m). The instrument can be operated in closed-loop, controlling either the applied normal load or the…
We study a novel configuration for displacement detection consisting of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to both, a radio frequency superconducting interference device (RF SQUID) and to a superconducting stripline resonator. We employ an…
In this paper, the authors propose a two-dimensional, wide dynamic range, linear displacement sensor using microwave methods. The microwave sensor circuit employs a cylindrical dielectric resonator proximity coupled to a pair of orthogonal…
A differential frequency microwave sensor for angular displacement detection is reported. A metal strip-loaded cylindrical dielectric resonator (SLCDR) is excited with a 50 ohm microstrip transmission line through a rectangular slot made on…
We present an interferometric sensor for investigating macroscopic quantum mechanics on a table-top scale. The sensor consists of pair of suspended optical cavities with a finesse in excess of 100,000 comprising 10 g fused-silica mirrors.…
Position measurements at the quantum level are vital for many applications, but also challenging. Typically, methods based on optical phase shifts are used, but these methods are often weak and difficult to apply to many materials. An…
We demonstrate sub-femtometer displacement-sensing results achieved with a compact optical resonator-based laser interferometry technique called heterodyne cavity-tracking, intended for local displacement or inertial sensing with ultra-high…
A force measurement technique has been developed that utilizes a clamped fiber optic element both as a cantilever and as a highly sensitive probe of the static and dynamic displacement of a sample that is mounted near its free end. Light…