Light-matter interaction in levitated systems

Light-matter interaction in extreme isolation

Nanoparticles levitated in ultrahigh vacuum are a unique platform where both mechanical (center-of-mass motion, rotation) and internal degrees of freedom (phonons, magnons, etc) become extremely isolated from their environment. The precise control achieved over some of these degrees of freedom allows for the future exploration of many physical phenomena, from fundamental quantum science to unconventional regimes of condensed matter.

We are interested in developing a quantum theoretical description of this novel light-matter platform. On the one hand, we develop models to describe the quantum dynamics of mechanical degrees of freedom of levitated nanoparticles in the presence of external systems such as optical cavities. This effort is carried out in close collaboration with the team of Prof. Romero Isart at University of Innsbruck, with the common goal of proposing experiments able to generate and certify purely quantum motional states of levitated nanoparticles. On the other hand, we are interested in understanding and controlling what lies within these levitated objects, namely in their condensed-matter excitations such as phonons, magnons, etc. Describing these quantum excitations in such isolated systems requires to abandon various general assumptions undertaken in the theoretical description of bulk solids, potentially unveiling new regimes of condensed matter.

Latest publications in Levitodynamics

Numerical Simulation of Large-Scale Nonlinear Open Quantum Mechanics
M. Roda-Llordes, D. Candoli, P. T. Grochowski, A. Riera-Campeny, T. Agrenius, J. J. García-Ripoll, C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, O. Romero-Isart
Phys. Rev. Research 6, 013262 (2024)

Cavity-mediated long-range interactions in levitated optomechanics
J. Vijayan, J. Piotrowski, C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, K. Weber, O. Romero-Isart, L. Novotny
Nature Physics (2024)

Quantum electrodynamics with a nonmoving dielectric sphere: quantizing Lorenz-Mie scattering
P. Maurer, C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, O. Romero-Isart
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 40, 3137 (2023)

Quantum Theory of Light Interaction with a Lorenz-Mie Particle: Optical detection and three-dimensional ground-state cooling
P. Maurer, C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, O. Romero-Isart
Physical Review A 108, 033714 (2023)

Suppressing Recoil Heating in Levitated Optomechanics using Squeezed Light
C. Gonzalez-Ballestero, J. A. Zielińska, M. Rossi, A. Militaru, M. Frimmer, L. Novotny, P. Maurer, O. Romero-Isart
PRX Quantum 4, 030331 (2023)