Superconducting levitation and control of a high-reflectivity micromirror

@misc{koller2026superconducting,
  title = {{Superconducting levitation and control of a high-reflectivity micromirror}},
  author = {Philipp Koller and Jannek J. Hansen and David Walcher and Tomáš Plichta and Rémi Claessen and Martin Žemlička and Philip Schmidt and Rhys G. Povey and Stefan Minniberger and Stefan Putz and Markus Aspelmeyer and Michael Trupke},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.17787},
  eprint = {2609.17787},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17787},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Superconducting levitation and control of a high-reflectivity micromirror
AU  - Philipp Koller
AU  - Jannek J. Hansen
AU  - David Walcher
AU  - Tomáš Plichta
AU  - Rémi Claessen
AU  - Martin Žemlička
AU  - Philip Schmidt
AU  - Rhys G. Povey
AU  - Stefan Minniberger
AU  - Stefan Putz
AU  - Markus Aspelmeyer
AU  - Michael Trupke
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/15
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.17787
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17787
AB  - We introduce a method to suspend an optical micromirror, with a total mass of \SI{30}{\micro\gram}, using superconducting magnetic levitation. The micromirror is formed on a silicon membrane, coated with a high-reflectivity dielectric stack and attached to superconducting microspheres. The object is stably levitated inside a magnetic quadrupole field at cryogenic temperatures. Magnetic feedback on the transverse motion is used to stabilize the position of the levitator within the trapping field, allowing to measure the axial displacement of the levitator using optical interferometry. The system reaches a sensitivity of order \SI{100}{\pico\metre/\sqrt{\hertz}} near the axial trap frequency of \SI{167}{Hz}. This approach enables free-standing mirrors with minimal dissipation and tunable oscillation frequencies, offering a platform for precision sensing and quantum cavity optomechanics in the microgram regime.
ER  -