| Author(s): |
Andrew Geraci; Scott B. Papp; John E. Kitching; |
| Title: |
Sub-micron force detection using optically-cooled levitated microspheres |
| Published: |
September 03, 2010 |
| Abstract: |
We propose an experiment using optically trapped and cooled dielectric microspheres for the detection of short-range forces. The center-of-mass motion of a microsphere trapped in vacuum can experience extremely low dissipation and quality factors of 1012, leading to yoctoNewton force sensitivity. Trapping the sphere in an optical field enables positioning at less than 1 υm from a surface, a regime where exotic new forces may exist. We expect that the proposed system could advance the search for non-Newtonian gravity forces via an enhanced sensitivity of 105 -107 over current experiments at the micron length scale. Moreover, our system may be useful for characterizing other short-range physics such as Casimir forces. |
| Citation: |
Physical Review |
| Volume: |
105 |
| Pages: |
pp. 101101-1 - 101101-4 |
| Keywords: |
Casimir force;cavity cooling;non-Newtonian gravity;optical trapping;optomechanics |
| Research Areas: |
Physics, Optical Physics |
| PDF version: |
 Click here to retrieve PDF version of paper (410KB) |
