Levitated electromechanics: All-electrical cooling of charged nano- and micro-particles

Abstract

We show how charged levitated nano- and micro-particles can be cooled by interfacing them with an RLC circuit. All-electrical levitation and cooling is applicable to a wide range of particle sizes and materials, and will enable state-of-the-art force sensing within an electrically networked system. Exploring the cooling limits in the presence of realistic noise we find that the quantum regime of particle motion can be reached in cryogenic environments both for passive resistive cooling and for an active feedback scheme, paving the way to levitated quantum electromechanics.