Cooling and Amplification of a Vacuum-Trapped Nanoparticle

Lukas Novotny, PhD, ETH Zurich, Photonics Laboratory

Abstract

I discuss our experiments with optically levitated nanoparticles in ultrahigh vacuum. Using an active parametric feedback scheme we cool the particle’s center-of-mass temperature to T ～ 500μK and reach mean quantum occupation numbers of n ~ 50. I show that mechanical quality factors of Q = 109 can be reached and that damping is dominated by photon recoil heating. The vacuum-trapped nanoparticle forms an ideal model system for studying non-equilibrium processes, nonlinear interactions, and ultrasmall forces.

Dr. Novotny is a researcher at ETH Zurich, Photonics Laboratory

Location: Bausch and Lomb 109

Refreshments will be served.