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Controlling the Motion of a Nanoparticle Trapped in Vacuum

Jamie Vovrosh, Muddassar Rashid, David Hempston, James Bateman, Hendrik Ulbricht

Published Mar 9, 2016• 4 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We demonstrate a simple and robust geometry for optical trapping in vacuum of a single nanoparticle based on a parabolic mirror and the optical gradient force, and we demonstrate rapid parametric feedback cooling of all three motional degrees of freedom from room temperature to a few mK. A single laser at 1550nm, and a single photodiode, are used for trapping, position detection, and cooling for all three dimensions. Particles with diameters from 26nm to 160nm are trapped without feedback to 10$^{-5}$mbar and with feedback engaged the pressure is reduced to 10$^{-6}$mbar. Modifications to the harmonic motion in the presence of noise and feedback are studied, and an experimental mechanical quality factor $>4\times 10^7$ is estimated.

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We demonstrate a simple and robust geometry for optical trapping in vacuum of a single nanoparticle based on a parabolic mirror and the optical gradient force, and we demonstrate rapid parametric feedback cooling of all three motional degrees of freedom from room temperature to a few mK. A single laser at 1550nm, and a single photodiode, are used for trapping, position detection, and cooling for all three dimensions. Particles with diameters from 26nm to 160nm are trapped without feedback to 10−5^{-5}−5mbar and with feedback engaged the pressure is reduced to 10−6^{-6}−6mbar. Modifications to the harmonic motion in the presence of noise and feedback are studied, and an experimental mechanical quality factor >4×107>4\times 10^7>4×107 is estimated.
We optically trap a single nanoparticle in high vacuum and cool its three spatial degrees of freedom by means of active parametric feedback. Using a single laser beam for both trapping and cooling we demonstrate a temperature compression ratio of four orders of magnitude. The absence of a clamping mechanism provides robust decoupling from the heat bath and eliminates the requirement of cryogenic precooling. The small size and mass of the nanoparticle yield high resonance frequencies and high quality factors along with low recoil heating, which are essential conditions for ground state cooling and for low decoherence. The trapping and cooling scheme presented here opens new routes for testing quantum mechanics with mesoscopic objects and for ultrasensitive metrology and sensing.
We demonstrate feedback cooling of the center-of-mass motion of single charged nanoparticles to millikelvin temperatures in three dimensions via applying oscillating electric fields synchronized to their optically observed motion. The observed motional temperatures at weak feedback agree with a simple model and allow us to estimate the charge number of trapped nanoparticles. The agreement between our model and experiments is confirmed by independent measurements of the charge numbers based on a shift in the oscillation frequency induced by a constant electric field. The demonstrated temperature of less than 10mK10\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mK}10mK at $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{Pa}$ is lower than that with the conventional optical cooling approach at this pressure by one to two orders of magnitude. Our results form the basis of manipulating cold charged nanoparticles and pave the way to quantum mechanical studies with trapped nanoparticles near their ground state.
We design and build a new experimental setup to demonstrate a mixture of a single nanoparticle and laser-cooled atoms. This system aims for investigating the low-energy scattering of ultracold atoms by a dielectric nanoparticle. The wave nature of the cold atoms manifests itself in both elastic and inelastic cross sections. In the new experimental system at Yokohama National University, we demonstrated optical trapping and cooling of a glass nanoparticle in vacuum. The ballistic Brownian motion of the nanoparticle in the harmonic potential was observed. We also demonstrated parametric cooling of the center of mass motion of the nanoparticle. We discuss the prospects for realization of a mixture of a single nanoparticle and laser-cooled atoms.
The motion control of a levitated nanoparticle plays a central role in optical levitation for fundamental studies and practical applications. Here, we presented digital parametric feedback cooling based on square wave modulation by switching trapping laser intensity between two levels. The effects of the modulation depth and modulation signal phase on the cooling result were investigated in detail. Using such a digital parametric feedback method, the center-of-mass temperature of all three motional degrees of freedom can be cooled to dozens of millikelvin. The flexibility and agility of the digital feedback control pave the way for a variety of motion control modes.
Nanoparticles levitated in high vacuum are isolated from the surrounding environment and thus can be used in various applications, including quantum physics research. We demonstrated optical levitation of a nanoparticle, which was trapped without cooling at a pressure of 4.5 × 10 −3 Pa, using a single aspheric lens with a large numerical aperture (= 0.9) and 1030-nm laser. We also activated parametric feedback cooling to trap the particle at a pressure of 5.8 × 10 −4 Pa. This experimental system will be useful for studying nanoparticles in ultrahigh vacuum and for building a mixed system with laser-cooled atoms.