Speaker
Description
Optically levitated micrometer-scale objects provide a unique capability to measure the vector momentum of small impulses through their center-of-mass motion, preserving directional information at momentum transfers where conventional detectors typically lack directional sensitivity. We operate a vector force sensor based on optically levitated dielectric microspheres, trapped in a single-beam optical tweezer in high vacuum and monitored through scattered light. Beyond searches for short-range forces recently demonstrated, this approach may enable recoil-based studies of weak processes involving neutrinos. Ongoing upgrades introducing a 100-pixel detector for optical readout are expected to extend the measurement bandwidth from the kHz to MHz regime, enabling improved time resolution and substantially enhanced sensitivity for impulsive momentum measurements.