Levitation optomechanics
Levitodynamics investigates the interaction between light and levitating objects in vacuum. Activities range from fundamental questions such as the transition between the quantum and classical world to inertial and force sensing applications.
The young and dynamic field of Levitodynamics is a subfield of Optomechanics, which studies the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with mechanical systems. The family of optomechanical systems span more than 10 orders of magnitude in size, with LIGO being the most prominent example.
Levitodynamics addresses specifically the levitation and manipulation of micro- and nano-resonators in vacuum. Our team studies different levitation schemes, either optical or electrical, to trap and control the motion of individual nanoparticles. Owing to the absence of clamping, levitated nanoparticles stand out as systems that are highly isolated from the environment, with Q factors beyond 10⁸. And this at room temperature!
Our activities are organized in two main research lines. On the one hand we want to exploit the potential of our platforms towards inertial and force sensing, on the other hand we aim to shed some light on the Quantum behaviour of our mesoscopic systems, bridging the gap between our macroscopic classical world and the Quantum world.Furthermore, we explore new levitation configurations to investigate the internal degrees in levitated nanodiamonds.