Quantum ground-state cooling of two librational modes of a nanorotor
nanoparticle. Using a laser-induced desorption loading technique, we trap and cool several dimers and trimers of silica nanospheres to their respective ground states, all within a single day. The simultaneous cooling of both librational degrees of freedom allows us to align an individual nanorotor with respect to a space-fixed axis with an angular precision better than 20 µrad-close to the quantum-mechanical zero-point fluctuations.
Authors
- Uroš Delić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1426-7289)
- Markus Arndt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9487-4985)
- Stephan Troyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-3364)
- Benjamin A. Stickler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9075-1008)
- Henning Rudolph
- Florian Fechtel
- Lorenz Hummer
Institutions
- TU Wien (AT)
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (AT)
- Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (DE)
- University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Physics
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03219-1
- Primary Topic
- Mechanical and Optical Resonators
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Austrian Science Fund
- Universität Wien
- Office of Naval Research
- Office of Naval Research Global