Using cold atoms to sympathetically cool a levitated nanosphere

POSTER

Abstract

In search of new physics, the mesoscopic regime can be probed by a single 85 nm silica nanosphere, cooled to the vibrational ground state by optically-coupled cold atoms. Rubidium atoms are loaded in a MOT and optical tweezers trap a single nanosphere in a separate chamber. The systems can then be coupled for sympathetic cooling through radiation pressure forces mediated by a 1-D optical lattice. Using laser cooling techniques, the atoms can sympathetically cool the center of mass motion of the trapped sphere. Such cooled spheres can be used for precision sensing, matter-wave interferometry, and tests of quantum coherence in the mesoscopic regime.

Authors

  • Eduardo Alejandro

    Northwestern University

  • Cris Montoya

    Northwestern University

  • William Eom

    Northwestern University

  • Dmitri Sergatskov

    J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA, Department of Physics, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD 57197 USA, Northwestern University, Fermilab, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Missouri State University - Dept. of Physics, Astronomy, and Materials Science, University of Alabama, Purdue University, Princeton, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Rutgers University, Stockholm University, University of Wisconsin, University of lowa, Oregon State University, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, New York University, University of Nevada, Reno, Retired

  • Andrew Geraci

    Northwestern University