A micro dalton resolution mass sensor using optically cooled microdisks via short-time measurement

TL;DR

This paper introduces a highly sensitive mass sensor based on optically cooled microdisks, achieving microdalton resolution by performing short-time measurements after cooling, surpassing previous sensitivity limits.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel 'measuring after cooling' scheme for microdisks that enables ultra-precise mass detection within a short measurement window.

Findings

Achieves 10^(-6) dalton mass sensitivity

Demonstrates robustness against heat bath dissipation

Surpasses electron mass scale sensitivity

Abstract

We propose a mass sensor using optically trapped and cooled dielectric microdisks with "measuring after cooling" scheme. The center-of-mass motion of a trapped particle in vacuum can experience extremely low dissipation resulting in robust decoupling from the heat bath. Thus the measurement can be accomplished in a short time before a jump in the phonon number after the optomechanical cooling is finished. This method can lead to 10^(-6) dalton mass sensitivity which is a thousand times smaller than the mass of one electron.