Quantum Optical Binding of Nanoscale Particles

2024/12/03 by Henning Rudolph, Uroš Delić, Klaus Hornberger +1 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Quantum Information and Cryptography

paper · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.133.233603

openalex publication_date 2024/12/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Optical binding refers to the light-induced interaction between two or more objects illuminated by laser fields. The high tunability of the strength, sign, and reciprocity of this interaction renders it highly attractive for controlling nanoscale mechanical motion. Here, we discuss the quantum theory of optical binding and identify unique signatures of this interaction in the quantum regime. We show that these signatures are observable in near-future experiments with levitated nanoparticles. In addition, we prove the impossibility of entanglement induced by far-field optical binding in free space and identify strategies to circumvent this no-go theorem.

Citations

• Cooling of a levitated nanoparticle to the motional quantum ground state

Cited by

• Higher symmetry breaking and non-reciprocity in a driven-dissipative Dicke model

Discussions

• Our work on quantum optical binding between nanoparticles appeared in PRL two weeks ago! Check it out here if you want to know more: doi.org/10.1103/Phys... [bsky, 4 points, 0 comments]

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