Force and acceleration sensing with optically levitated nanogram masses at microkelvin temperatures

Abstract: This paper demonstrates cooling of the center-of-mass motion of 10 $\mu$m-diameter optically levitated silica spheres to an effective temperature of $50\pm22 \mu$K, achieved by minimizing the technical pointing noise of the trapping laser. This low noise leads to an acceleration and force sensitivity of $95\pm41$ n$g/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ ($g = 9.8$ m/s$^2$) and $0.95\pm0.11$ aN$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, respectively, at frequencies near 50 Hz. This force sensitivity is comparable to that demonstrated for optically levitated nanospheres that are $10^4$ times less massive, corresponding to an acceleration sensitivity that is several orders of magnitude better. It is further shown that under these conditions the spheres remain stably trapped at pressures of $\sim 10^{-7}$ mbar with no active cooling for periods longer than a day. Feedback cooling is still necessary in the moderate-pressure regime, motivating a comprehensive study of the loss mechanisms of the microspheres and providing better understanding of the requirements for feedback-free optical trapping in vacuum. This work can enable high-sensitivity searches for accelerations and forces acting on micron-sized masses, including those that could be produced by new physics beyond the Standard Model.