Speaker
Andrew Geraci
Description
Optomechanical sensors have achieved impressive levels of sensitivity, advancing into the quantum-regime, limited by the measurement imprecision associated with photon shot noise or the quantum backaction from radiation pressure. Optically levitated particles exhibit extreme decoupling from the environment, making them excellent sensors of small forces, torques, or accelerations. In this talk, I will present recent experimental results on a search for ultralight scalar dark matter using cryogenic optical cavities. I will also discuss our progress towards using levitated optomechanical systems for tests of quantum effects related to gravity, and to search for high frequency gravitational waves and ultralight dark matter.