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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Feedback cooling of a levitated nanoparticle in a radially polarized vector beam trap

  • Felipe Almeida
  • M. Rademacher
  • J. M. H. Gosling
  • P. F. Barker
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Abstract

We demonstrate optical levitation and feedback cooling of a silica nanoparticle (radius = 78~nm) trapped within a radial vector beam (RVB) in high vacuum. Radial vector beams, when focused by a high-NA lens, produce a smaller focal spot than conventional Gaussian beams, yielding tighter optical potentials and potentially reduced photon-recoil heating rates. A vortex wave plate was used to generate the RVB using an aspheric lens (NA = 0.77) to form the trap. Cold-damping feedback was used to cool the center of mass motion in the radial and axial trap directions to temperatures in the mK range. At higher temperatures and pressures, additional trap frequencies arising from the nonlinear RVB optical potential are observed. This demonstration is a step toward exploiting structured light for levitated quantum optomechanics where these traps can be used to suppress bulk and motional heating.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{almeida2026feedback,
  title = {{Feedback cooling of a levitated nanoparticle in a radially polarized vector beam trap}},
  author = {Felipe Almeida and M. Rademacher and J. M. H. Gosling and P. F. Barker},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.31068},
  eprint = {2609.31068},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31068},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Feedback cooling of a levitated nanoparticle in a radially polarized vector beam trap
AU  - Felipe Almeida
AU  - M. Rademacher
AU  - J. M. H. Gosling
AU  - P. F. Barker
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/25
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.31068
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31068
AB  - We demonstrate optical levitation and feedback cooling of a silica nanoparticle (radius = 78~nm) trapped within a radial vector beam (RVB) in high vacuum. Radial vector beams, when focused by a high-NA lens, produce a smaller focal spot than conventional Gaussian beams, yielding tighter optical potentials and potentially reduced photon-recoil heating rates. A vortex wave plate was used to generate the RVB using an aspheric lens (NA = 0.77) to form the trap. Cold-damping feedback was used to cool the center of mass motion in the radial and axial trap directions to temperatures in the mK range. At higher temperatures and pressures, additional trap frequencies arising from the nonlinear RVB optical potential are observed. This demonstration is a step toward exploiting structured light for levitated quantum optomechanics where these traps can be used to suppress bulk and motional heating.
ER  -