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A single-atom 3D sub-attonewton force sensor

Forces drive all physical interactions. High-sensitivity measurement of the effect of forces enables the quantitative investigation of physical phenomena. Laser-cooled trapped atomic ions are a well-controlled quantum system whose low mass, strong Coulomb interaction, and readily detectable fluoresc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Blūms, Valdis, Piotrowski, Marcin, Hussain, Mahmood I., Norton, Benjamin G., Connell, Steven C., Gensemer, Stephen, Lobino, Mirko, Streed, Erik W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938223/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29740598
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao4453
Descripción
Sumario:Forces drive all physical interactions. High-sensitivity measurement of the effect of forces enables the quantitative investigation of physical phenomena. Laser-cooled trapped atomic ions are a well-controlled quantum system whose low mass, strong Coulomb interaction, and readily detectable fluorescence signal make them a favorable platform for precision metrology. We demonstrate a three-dimensional sub-attonewton sensitivity force sensor based on a super-resolution imaging of a single trapped ion. The force is detected by measuring the ion’s displacement in three dimensions with nanometer precision. Observed sensitivities were 372 ± 9, 347 ± 18, and 808 ± 51 zN/ [Formula: see text] , corresponding to 24×, 87×, and 21× above the quantum limit. We verified this technique by measuring a 95-zN light pressure force, an important systematic effect in optically based sensors.