PM: Precision Searches for Physics Beyond the Standard Model Using Optically Levitated Mcrospheres

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

New tools developed in atomic, molecular, and optical physics are now enabling extremely precise sensors for a variety of applications. In fundamental physics, some of the most demanding applications come from testing the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. While the SM provides a highly successful description of the known fundamental particles and interactions, astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments indicate that it is incomplete. In particular, most of the matter in the universe appears to be “dark,” and is not included in the SM. The SM also fails to incorporate gravity and cannot explain why matter (rather than antimatter) dominates the universe. This work will develop optical trapping technology to search for tiny deviations from the predictions of the SM that could provide evidence for new fundamental particles or interactions. Previous work employing optically trapped particles has developed the most precise micron scale force sensors to date. This work will further improve the sensitivity of these systems and extend them to large arrays of particles. These arrays will be used to search for interactions from dark matter or deviations from the expected SM forces such as gravity at microscopic distances. Through this development, graduate students and postdocs will be trained in the development of high precision sensing technologies. The PI and graduate students will also provide educational opportunities related to the scientific and technical aspects of this research to students in the New Haven community. Levitated optomechanics has undergone significant development in the past few decades, following the pioneering work of Ashkin and Dziedzic. These technologies now permit objects as large as several nanograms in mass to be trapped in vacuum and optically cooled to effective temperatures as low as 100 microKelvin. Such sensors can reach sub-attonewton scale sensitivities to forces acting at micron scales. These techniques will be used to search for deviations from Newton’s and Coulomb’s laws that may appear at weaker coupling or shorter distance than those at which previous experiments have been sensitive. In addition, these sensors will be used to search directly for recoils induced by relic dark matter particles, and large arrays of such sensors will enable a new class of particle dark matter detectors that are complementary to existing searches. In parallel to the work to apply levitated optomechanical sensors to searches for beyond the SM physics, the PI and graduate students will continue to teach a class on the “Physics of Light” to local middle and high school students through the Pathways to Science Summer Scholars program hosted at Yale. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.