Scanning force sensing at $\mu$m-distances from a conductive surface with nanospheres in an optical lattice

• Main Authors: Montoya, Cris, Alejandro, Eduardo, Eom, William, Grass, Daniel, Clarisse, Nicolas, Witherspoon, Apryl, Geraci, Andrew A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04.03.2021
• Subjects: Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - Optics; Physics - Quantum Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2103.03420

The center-of-mass motion of optically trapped dielectric nanoparticles in vacuum is extremely well-decoupled from its environment, making a powerful tool for measurements of feeble sub-attonewton forces. We demonstrate a method to trap and manuever nanoparticles in an optical standing wave potential formed by retro-reflecting a laser beam from a metallic mirror surface. We can reliably position a $\sim 170$ nm diameter silica nanoparticle at distances of a few hundred nanometers to tens of microns from the surface of a gold-coated silicon mirror by transferring it from a single-beam tweezer trap into the standing wave potential. We can further scan the two dimensional space parallel to the mirror surface by using a piezo-driven mirror. This method enables three-dimensional scanning force sensing near surfaces using optically trapped nanoparticles, promising for high-sensitivity scanning force microscopy, tests of the Casimir effect, and tests of the gravitational inverse square law at micron scales.