Precision Measurements with Optically-levitating Nanospheres

ORAL

Abstract

Measuring short-range forces such as deviations to Newtonian gravity or Casimir forces requires precision sensitivity. Optically-levitating nanospheres in vacuum have experimentally been shown to present excellent sensitivity at the zeptonewton scale. Our experiment makes use of an optically levitating 300 nm silica sphere in vacuum. We plan to use this system to search for a Yukawa-type correction to Newtonian gravity. Furthermore, successful execution of our experiment can allow us to investigate other short-range surface-force phenomena as well.

*Heising-Simons Foundation, National Science Foundation

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Presenters

  • Nia Burrell

    • Northwestern University

Authors

  • Nia Burrell

    • Northwestern University