Superconducting Microsphere Magnetically Levitated in an Anharmonic Potential with Integrated Magnetic Readout
Journal article, 2023

Magnetically levitated superconducting microparticles offer a promising path to quantum experiments with picogram to microgram objects. In this work, we levitate a 700 ng∼1017amu superconducting microsphere in a magnetic chip trap in which detection is integrated. We measure the center-of-mass motion of the particle using a dc superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. The trap frequencies are continuously tunable between 30 and 160 Hz and the particle remains stably trapped over days in a dilution-refrigerator environment. We characterize the motional-amplitude-dependent frequency shifts, which arise from trap anharmonicities, namely, Duffing nonlinearities and mode couplings. We explain this nonlinear behavior using finite-element modeling of the chip-based trap potential. This work may constitute a first step toward quantum experiments and ultrasensitive inertial sensors with magnetically levitated superconducting microparticles.

Author

Martí Gutierrez Latorre

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology

Gerard Higgins

Osterreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology

Achintya Paradkar

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology

Thilo Bauch

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Device Physics

Witlef Wieczorek

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology

Physical Review Applied

2331-7019 (eISSN)

Vol. 19 5 054047

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Subject Categories

Other Physics Topics

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.054047

Related datasets

Data and code for the article "Superconducting microsphere magnetically levitated in an anharmonic potential" [dataset]

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7304534

More information

Latest update

9/22/2023