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Title: Quantum limited particle sensing in optical tweezers

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Jack Dodd Centre for Photonics and Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, University of Otago, Dunedin (New Zealand)
  2. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072 (Australia)

Particle sensing in optical tweezers systems provides information on the position, velocity, and force of the specimen particles. The conventional quadrant detection scheme is applied ubiquitously in optical tweezers experiments to quantify these parameters. In this paper, we show that quadrant detection is nonoptimal for particle sensing in optical tweezers and propose an alternative optimal particle sensing scheme based on spatial homodyne detection. A formalism for particle sensing in terms of transverse spatial modes is developed and numerical simulations of the efficacies of both quadrant and spatial homodyne detection are shown. We demonstrate that 1 order of magnitude improvement in particle sensing sensitivity can be achieved using spatial homodyne over quadrant detection.

OSTI ID:
21352425
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 80, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.80.063806; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English