(Nanowork News) In a recent study, a team led by Tracy Northup in the Department of Experimental Physics revealed that they had successfully created a levitating nanomechanical oscillator with ultra-high quality elements that far surpassed previous experimental achievements.
This study actual review letter (“Ultra-high-quality coefficients of levitated nanomechanical oscillators”).
A team led by Tracy Northup succeeded in levitating silica nanoparticles in a linear Paul Trap under ultra-high vacuum conditions. What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is that it achieved very low dissipation rates, with quality factors exceeding 10 billion. This is a more than 100-fold improvement over previous attempts and marks a milestone in the exploration of nanomechanical systems.
The team achieved this in an environment of extremely low pressure, a critical factor in reducing interaction with the surrounding air, which weakens the oscillator's motion. The ultrahigh-quality coefficient (a measure of how little energy is lost to the surroundings) was calculated based on the damping rate and the nanoparticle vibration frequency.
The oscillator's unprecedented stability and low noise level make it an ideal platform for developing ultra-sensitive detectors and performing fundamental tests in quantum physics. This opens up exciting possibilities for exploring quantum phenomena in macroscopic systems, a long-standing challenge in the field.