Force and acceleration sensing with optically levitated nanogram masses at microkelvin temperatures

Abstract

This paper demonstrates cooling of the center-of-mass motion of 10 $\mu$m-diameter optically levitated silica spheres to an effective temperature of $50\pm 22\mu$K, achieved by minimizing the technical pointing noise of the trapping laser. This low noise leads to an acceleration and force sensitivity of $95\pm 41$ n$g/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ ($g=9.8$ m/s${}^2$) and $0.95\pm 0.11$ aN$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, respectively, at frequencies near 50 Hz. This force sensitivity is comparable to that demonstrated for optically levitated nanospheres that are $10^4$ times less massive, corresponding to an acceleration sensitivity that is several orders of magnitude better. It is further shown that under these conditions the spheres remain stably trapped at pressures of $\sim 10^{-7}$ mbar with no active cooling for periods longer than a day. Feedback cooling is still necessary in the moderate-pressure regime, motivating a comprehensive study of the loss mechanisms of the microspheres and providing better understanding of the requirements for feedback-free optical trapping in vacuum. This work can enable high-sensitivity searches for accelerations and forces acting on micron-sized masses, including those that could be produced by new physics beyond the Standard Model.

References in corpus (36)

• Introduction to Quantum Noise, Measurement and Amplification
• Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law
• Motional Quantum Ground State of a Levitated Nanoparticle from Room Temperature
• Millikelvin cooling of an optically trapped microsphere in vacuum
• Feedback cooling of a cantilever's fundamental mode below 5 mK
• Zeptonewton force sensing with nanospheres in an optical lattice
• Thermal nonlinearities in a nanomechanical oscillator
• Nanoscale temperature measurements using non-equilibrium Brownian dynamics of a levitated nanosphere
• Quantum Superposition of Massive Objects and the Quantization of Gravity
• Improved constraints on non-Newtonian forces at 10 microns
• Search for Millicharged Particles Using Optically Levitated Microspheres
• Cold Damping of an Optically Levitated Nanoparticle to micro-Kelvin Temperatures
• Stronger limits on hypothetical Yukawa interactions in the 40--8000 nm range
• Attonewton force detection using microspheres in a dual-beam optical trap in high vacuum
• Sensing of Static Forces with Free-Falling Nanoparticles
• Influence of non-conservative optical forces on the dynamics of optically trapped colloidal spheres: The fountain of probability
• Motional Sideband Asymmetry of a Nanoparticle Optically Levitated in Free Space
• Optical levitation of 10 nanogram spheres with nano-$g$ acceleration sensitivity
• Search for Screened Interactions Associated with Dark Energy Below the 100 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ Length Scale
• Force sensing with an optically levitated charged nanoparticle
• Optimal Feedback Cooling of a Charged Levitated Nanoparticle with Adaptive Control
• Controlling the net charge on a nanoparticle optically levitated in vacuum
• Single-Spin Magnetomechanics with Levitated Micromagnets
• Probing a Gravitational Cat State
• Optical Rotation of Levitated Spheres in High Vacuum
• Cooling the Motion of a Silica Microsphere in a Magneto-Gravitational Trap in Ultra-High Vacuum
• Testing the gravitational field generated by a quantum superposition
• Measuring the Internal Temperature of a Levitated Nanoparticle in High Vacuum
• Direct loading of nanoparticles under high vacuum into a Paul trap for levitodynamical experiments
• Testing the neutrality of matter by acoustic means in a spherical resonator
• A Search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at nm range using a pulsed neutron beam
• Three-dimensional force-field microscopy with optically levitated microspheres
• Single-beam dielectric-microsphere trapping with optical heterodyne detection
• Precision Mass and Density Measurement of Individual Optically Levitated Microspheres
• Electric feedback cooling of single charged nanoparticles in an optical trap
• Absolute pressure and gas species identification with an optically levitated rotor

Cited by in corpus (61)

• Levitodynamics: Levitation and control of microscopic objects in vacuum
• Real-time optimal quantum control of mechanical motion at room temperature
• Searching for new physics using optically levitated sensors
• Mechanical Quantum Sensing in the Search for Dark Matter
• Quantum Gravity Witness via Entanglement of Masses: Casimir Screening
• Search for composite dark matter with optically levitated sensors
• Nonlinear multi-frequency phonon lasers with active levitated optomechanics
• Ultralow mechanical damping with Meissner-levitated ferromagnetic microparticles
• Optical cold damping of neutral nanoparticles near the ground state in an optical lattice
• 6 GHz hyperfast rotation of an optically levitated nanoparticle in vacuum
• Massive quantum systems as interfaces of quantum mechanics and gravity
• Quantum sensing with nanoparticles for gravimetry; when bigger is better
• Coherent scattering of low mass dark matter from optically trapped sensors
• Quantum experiments with microscale particles
• Search for non-Newtonian interactions at micrometer scale with a levitated test mass
• Searches for massive neutrinos with mechanical quantum sensors
• Limits on the abundance of millicharged particles bound to matter
• Optical Trapping in a Dark Focus
• Mechanical dissipation below 1$\mu$Hz with a cryogenic diamagnetic-levitated micro-oscillator
• Superconducting microsphere magnetically levitated in an anharmonic potential with integrated magnetic readout
• High sensitivity, levitated microsphere apparatus for short-distance force measurements
• A chemical nano-reactor based on a levitated nanoparticle in vacuum
• Stationary Gaussian Entanglement between Levitated Nanoparticles
• Quantum theory of light interaction with a Lorenz-Mie particle: Optical detection and three-dimensional ground-state cooling
• Performance and limits of feedback cooling methods for levitated oscillators: a direct comparison
• Vacuum levitation and motion control on chip
• Dark Matter Searches with Levitated Sensors
• Precision calibration of the Duffing oscillator with phase control
• Optically levitated gyroscopes with a MHz rotating micro-rotor
• Searching for Chameleon Dark Energy with Mechanical Systems
• Controlling the motional quality factor of a diamagnetically levitated graphite plate
• Mechanical detection of nuclear decays
• Searching spin-mass interaction using a diamagnetic levitated magnetic resonance force sensor
• PT Symmetry, induced mechanical lasing and tunable force sensing in a coupled-mode optically levitated nanoparticle
• Macroscopic Dark Matter Detection with Gravitational Wave Experiments
• Optical signatures of the coupled spin-mechanics of a levitated magnetic microparticle
• Stability and dynamics of optically levitated dielectric disks in a Gaussian standing wave beyond the harmonic approximation
• Search for ultralight dark matter with a frequency adjustable diamagnetic levitated sensor
• Librational Feedback Cooling
• A nano vacuum gauge based on second-order coherence in optical levitation
• Optical Levitation of Arrays of Microspheres
• Quantum Electrodynamics with a Nonmoving Dielectric Sphere: Quantizing Lorenz-Mie Scattering
• Exponentially enhanced gravitationally induced entanglement between quantum systems with a two-phonon drive
• Understanding thermal induced escape mechanism of optically levitated sphere in vacuum
• Heisenberg-Limited Spin-Mechanical Gravimetry
• Current experimental upper bounds on spacetime diffusion
• Collective-motion-enhanced acceleration sensing via an optically levitated microsphere array
• Search for Dark Matter Scattering from Optically Levitated Nanoparticles
• Neuromorphic detection and cooling of microparticles in arrays
• Three robust temperature-drift compensation strategies for a MEMS gravimeter
• Enhanced optomechanical coupling between an optically levitated particle and an ultrahigh Q optical microcavity
• Atom-Mechanical Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference
• Roto-translational optomechanics
• Collectively enhanced ground-state cooling in subwavelength atomic arrays
• Control and measurement of electric dipole moments in levitated optomechanics
• Compact vacuum levitation and control platform with a single 3D-printed fiber lens
• On-chip optical levitation with a metalens in vacuum
• Scheme for continuous force detection with a single electron at the level of $10^{-27}\mathrm{N}$
• A Sub-kHz Mechanical Resonator Passively Cooled to 6 mK
• Ultra-low damping of the translational motion of a composite graphite rod in a magneto-gravitational trap
• Optical levitation of fluorescent silicon carbide nanoparticles in vacuum