Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 21: Optomechanics I
Q 21.5: Talk
Monday, March 5, 2018, 17:15–17:30, K 0.023
Long-range optical trapping and binding of microparticles in hollow-core photonic crystal fibre — •Shangran Xie1, Dmitry Bykov1, Richard Zeltner1, Gordon Wong1, Tijmen Euser2, and Philip Russell1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstrasse 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany — 2NanoPhotonics Centre, University of Cambridge, Cavendish Laboratory, CB3 0HE Cambridge, UK
Optically levitated micro- and nanoparticles offer a playground for investigating photon-phonon interactions over macroscopic distances. An optically tweezered particle at low gas pressure is isolated from the external environment resulting in very high mechanical Q-factor. Optical binding between arrays of trapped particles adds an additional dimension to the field of "levitated optomechanics", allowing access to the rich collective dynamics. Here we report long-range optical binding of multiple microparticles, mediated by intermodal scattering and interference inside the evacuated core of a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF). Three polystyrene microparticles are stably bound together with an inter-particle distance of ~40 μm, or 50 times longer than the trapping wavelength. The bound-particle array can be translated over centimetre distances along the fibre. The collective mechanical modes of the bound-particle array could be observed under 6 mbar pressure. The measured inter-particle distance and mechanical eigen-frequencies are supported by an analytical formalism modelling the binding dynamics. HC-PCF offers a unique platform for investigating levitated collective optomechanics in a well-protected environment.