Levitated Oscillators Achieve Coupled Dynamics with Simulated ‘Ghost’ Particle Interaction

Levitated particles, acting as exquisitely sensitive mechanical oscillators, are attracting considerable attention for their potential in exploring fundamental physics and developing novel technologies. Ronghao Yin, Yugang Ren, and Deok Young Seo, alongside colleagues at King’s College London and Qiongyuan Wu, have now demonstrated a remarkable advance in this field, creating a system where a single levitated particle interacts with a ‘ghost’ particle simulated on an analogue computer. This innovative approach generates coupled-oscillator dynamics, effectively allowing researchers to control and vary the properties of the interaction without a physical counterpart. The team’s work opens up new avenues for measurement-based control of mechanical systems and physical simulation, potentially leading to the development of advanced cooling techniques and complex physical models.

Levitated particles exhibit high quality factors and display rich dynamics, alongside non-reciprocal interactions with potential applications in sensing and the exploration of non-equilibrium and quantum physics. This work presents a single levitated particle demonstrating coupled-oscillator dynamics through interaction with a virtual, or “ghost”, particle. The properties of this ghost levitated particle are dynamically varied as it is simulated on an analogue computer, representing a new approach to measurement-based bath engineering and physical simulation, and potentially leading to the generation of novel cooling mechanisms and complex physical simulations.

Optical Trapping and Nanoparticle Manipulation

The rapidly developing field of optically levitated nanoparticles is being explored for applications in sensing, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and fundamental physics. These systems utilize optical forces to trap and manipulate microscopic particles in a vacuum, providing an isolated environment for precise measurements. Levitated particles are being developed as ultra-sensitive sensors for force, acceleration, rotation, and other physical quantities, potentially detecting incredibly small forces. The isolation allows for exploring quantum phenomena with relatively large objects, including cooling particles to their quantum ground state and observing entanglement. The ability to control and measure the motion of a single particle opens up possibilities for studying thermodynamics at the single-particle level, and recent work focuses on creating arrays of levitated nanoparticles and controlling their interactions for quantum simulation and sensing. Advanced techniques such as laser cooling, feedback cooling, event-based imaging, and machine learning are being employed to improve control and measurement.

Levitated Particle Couples With Simulated Oscillator

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in manipulating mechanical oscillators by successfully coupling a real, levitated particle with a virtual, simulated particle, creating a semi-virtual system. This work demonstrates the ability to precisely control the properties of a simulated particle using an analogue computer, effectively tailoring its mass, temperature, and damping rate. Coupling the real and virtual particles resulted in the emergence of two distinct collective modes, confirmed through measurements of the coupled system’s power spectral density and analysis of its in-phase and out-of-phase motion. Simulations of the experimental data showed excellent quantitative agreement, validating the model used to describe the system. This achievement opens new avenues for engineering complex coupled oscillator systems, potentially leading to novel cooling mechanisms and advanced physical simulations.

Real and Virtual Oscillator Coupling Demonstrated

Researchers have demonstrated a novel approach to studying coupled mechanical oscillators by levitating a single particle and interacting it with a ‘ghost’ particle simulated on an analogue computer. This system allows for dynamic control over the properties of the virtual particle, offering a unique platform for investigating complex interactions. The team successfully induced coupled-oscillator dynamics and demonstrated tunable coupling between the oscillators, even when their resonant frequencies differed significantly. The experimental results exhibit strong agreement with simulations, validating the accuracy of the approach and the underlying theoretical framework. This innovative method for studying coupled dynamics could be extended to generate novel cooling mechanisms and simulate more complex physical systems.