2016/03/09 by Gambhir Ranjit, Mark Cunningham, M. Cunningham +3 · 4 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Acoustics #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Condensed matter physics #Displacement (psychology) #Fictitious force #Laser #Laser cooling #Lattice (music) #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Mechanics #Optical force #Optical lattice #Optical tweezers #Optics #Optoelectronics #Particle (ecology) #Particle displacement #Photonic and Optical Devices #Physics #Pressure-gradient force #Radiation pressure #Trapping #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.93.053801
published as Phys. Rev. A 93, 053801 (2016) · 5 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, typos corrected, references added
arxiv created 2016/03/09 · openalex publication_date 2016/05/02 · arxiv updated 2016/05/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Optically trapped nanospheres in high vacuum experience little friction and hence are promising for ultrasensitive force detection. Here we demonstrate measurement times exceeding 105 s and zeptonewton force sensitivity with laser-cooled silica nanospheres trapped in an optical lattice. The sensitivity achieved exceeds that of conventional room-temperature solid-state force sensors by over an order of magnitude, and enables a variety of applications including electric-field sensing, inertial sensing, and gravimetry. The particle is confined at the antinodes of the optical standing wave, and by studying the motion of a particle which has been moved to an adjacent trapping site, the known spacing of the antinodes can be used to calibrate the displacement spectrum of the particle. Finally, we study the dependence of the trap stability and lifetime on the laser intensity and gas pressure, and examine the heating rate of the particle in vacuum without feedback cooling.