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

在原子、分子和光学物理领域开发的新工具现在可以为各种应用提供极其精确的传感器。在基础物理学中，一些最苛刻的应用来自于测试粒子物理学的标准模型（SM）。虽然SM对已知的基本粒子和相互作用提供了非常成功的描述，但天体物理观测和实验室实验表明，它是不完整的。特别是，宇宙中的大部分物质似乎都是“暗的”，不包括在SM中。SM也没有将引力纳入其中，也不能解释为什么物质（而不是反物质）主宰着宇宙。这项工作将开发光学捕获技术，以寻找与SM预测的微小偏差，从而为新的基本粒子或相互作用提供证据。先前使用光学捕获粒子的工作已经开发出迄今为止最精确的微米级力传感器。这项工作将进一步提高这些系统的灵敏度，并将其扩展到大型粒子阵列。这些阵列将用于搜索暗物质的相互作用，或者在微观距离上寻找与预期的SM力（如引力）的偏差。通过这一发展，研究生和博士后将在高精度传感技术的发展方面得到培训。PI和研究生也将为纽黑文社区的学生提供与这项研究的科学和技术方面相关的教育机会。在过去的几十年里，随着Ashkin和Dziedzic的开创性工作，悬浮光学力学经历了重大的发展。这些技术现在可以将几纳克大小的物体捕获在真空中，并将其光学冷却到100微开尔文的有效温度。这种传感器对微米级的力的灵敏度可以达到亚牛顿级。这些技术将用于寻找牛顿和库仑定律的偏差，这些偏差可能出现在较弱的耦合或较短的距离上，而这些距离比以前的实验敏感。此外，这些传感器将用于直接搜索由残余暗物质粒子引起的反冲，而大型传感器阵列将使一类新的粒子暗物质探测器成为现有搜索的补充。在将悬浮光学机械传感器应用于SM物理之外的搜索工作的同时，PI和研究生将继续通过耶鲁大学主办的暑期科学之路学者项目，向当地的中学生讲授“光的物理”课程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.