Speaker
Description
The Quantum Invisible Particle Search (QuIPS) collaboration is developing a search for keV-MeV scale sterile neutrinos utilizing nanometer-scale silica spheres trapped at the focus of a laser in high vacuum. Such levitated optomechanical systems have opened up new pathways for testing fundamental physics with quantum-limited sensitivity, due to their extreme isolation from the surrounding environment. When the spheres are doped with radioactive isotopes, detection of the recoil impulse accompanying the emission of decay products enables an event-by-event measurement of the total momentum carried away. Having demonstrated impulse sensitivity of better than 50 keV/c, the QuIPS group at Yale is now loading nanospheres with F-18 and other beta/electron capture emitters for first recoil measurements. To eliminate contamination of the chamber with radioactive nanospheres – a potential source of backgrounds – a technique is being developed to transfer single spheres from an external Paul trap into the optical trap. This presentation will showcase the latest progress and discuss prospects for a first sterile neutrino search.