Levitated Optomechanics

This Seminar on Levitated Optomechanics brings together leading scientists and young researchers working on the control of nanoparticles suspended in vacuum by optical or electric forces. The most recent experimental and theoretical advances will be discussed of cooling untethered nano-mechanical systems into the quantum regime and of observing their rotranslational motion in the quantum-classical borderlands, as well as the perspectives of harnessing their coherent quantum dynamics for fundamental experiments and technological applications.

Levitated nanoscale particles offer a promising route towards achieving quantum control over macroscopic mechanical systems. The workshop will focus on the aspects of optomechanics that are unique to these unclamped mechanical systems. It will review cooling schemes for reaching the quantum ground state of the center-of-mass and rotational motion, and examine strategies for addressing and employing the quantized orientational degrees-of-freedom. Progress in controlling the ro-translational motion will be discussed, e.g. via conservative and non-conservative light forces, as well as the thermodynamics of these strongly isolated systems, whose interaction with ambient gaseous and radiative environments can be switched on selectively. The seminar will discuss the prospects for testing of the quantum superposition principle with levitated nanoparticles and for quantum-enhanced measurement and sensing strategies, also covering hybrid schemes where the particles are coupled to the state of individual spins or quantized circuits. The workshop will thus expose the state-of-the-art and the open problems of a promising platform for quantum technology at the interface of nanophysics and quantum optics.

The conference language will be English. The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus-Foundation bears the cost of full-board accommodation for all participants.