Optical trapping describes the interaction between light and matter to manipulate micro-
objects through momentum transfer. In the case of 3D trapping with a single beam, this is …

BACKGROUND Levitation of large objects has become a widely used technique in science
and engineering, and the control of levitated nano-and micro-objects in vacuum has gained …

Tests of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale require extreme control over
mechanical motion and its decoherence,–. Quantum control of mechanical motion has been …

The ability to accurately control the dynamics of physical systems by measurement and
feedback is a pillar of modern engineering. Today, the increasing demand for applied …

Quantum control of complex objects in the regime of large size and mass provides
opportunities for sensing applications and tests of fundamental physics. The realization of …

Nanomechanics has brought mesoscopic physics into the world of vibrations. Because
nanomechanical systems are small, fluctuations are significant, the vibrations already …

Gravity is the weakest of all known fundamental forces and poses some of the most
important open questions to modern physics: it remains resistant to unification within the …

Numerous astrophysical and cosmological observations are best explained by the existence
of dark matter, a mass density which interacts only very weakly with visible, baryonic matter …

Since their invention in 1986 by Arthur Ashkin and colleagues, optical tweezers have
become an essential tool in several fields of physics, spectroscopy, biology …

We describe a variety of searches for new physics beyond the standard model of particle
physics which may be enabled in the coming years by the use of optically levitated masses …