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arXiv:2605.28479

Picometer control of a levitating milligram gravity sensor

Dennis G. Uitenbroek, Jurriaan Langendorff, Tjerk H. Oosterkamp

quant-phSubmitted May 27, 2026• Announced May 28, 2026• Revised Jul 1, 2026 (v2)

v1 · May 27, 2026 v2 · Jul 1, 2026

Abstract

Due to their exceptional isolation from the environment, magnetically levitated particles are explored as extremely sensitive mechanical sensors. For future gravity experiments on quantum superpositions, such systems need to be cooled close to their ground state. To demonstrate the combination of state of the art vibration isolation, milligram levitated high Q mechanical resonators and position detection with low noise, we present linear feedback cooling of a magnetically levitated gravity sensor to below 2 picometer amplitude and below 10 millikelvin mode temperature for two translational modes (the x- and y-mode) simultaneously. The sensor is a levitating permanent magnet in a type I superconducting trap, where its six resonance frequencies are measured with a superconducting coil coupled to a DC SQUID. This signal is measured with a lock-in amplifier and a feedback signal is sent to a piezoelectric actuator, allowing the cooling of resonant modes at 50.6 and 68.0 Hz simultaneously. These two translational modes have Q factors of $3.8 \cdot 10^6$ and $5.5 \cdot 10^6$ respectively. The experiment is mounted inside a dry dilution refrigerator where it is vibrationally attenuated with 110-130 dB at these frequencies. In this work, we discuss future improvements on the setup which may enable quantum ground state cooling on a magnetically levitated particle, that has previously been shown to be a gravitational sensor.

Comments: Main: 6 pages including 4 figures. Supplementary Material: 4 pages including 4 figures

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3.8 \cdot 10^6

and

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respectively. The experiment is mounted inside a dry dilution refrigerator where it is vibrationally attenuated with 110-130 dB at these frequencies. In this work, we discuss future improvements on the setup which may enable quantum ground state cooling on a magnetically levitated particle, that has previously been shown to be a gravitational sensor.

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/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}

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