An Optomechanical Coin Flip: Wavelength-Modulated, Erbium-Powered Rotations in a Levitated System

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates wavelength-controlled rotation of optically levitated nanocrystals, enabling binary encoding of messages and revealing long-term bimodal dynamics akin to the Dzhanibekov effect.

Contribution

It introduces wavelength modulation as a novel method to control rotation in levitated particles, expanding the capabilities of optomechanical systems.

Findings

Binary modulation of rotation rate encoding 'hello'

Observation of long-term bimodal rotational dynamics

Evidence of Dzhanibekov-like effect in levitated system

Abstract

Optical levitation of nano-scale systems offers a pathway to highly sensitive rotation measurements, which are critical for advancing gyroscopic technologies. While prior studies have primarily focused on controlling rotational degrees of freedom of optically levitated particles via modulation of optical power, polarization, and ambient pressure, here we demonstrate wavelength-controlled rotation of the "coin-flip" mode in optically levitated NaYF hexagonal prisms doped with erbium by modulating the wavelength of a secondary pump beam. By switching the pump light wavelength, we precisely modulate the particle's rotation rate in a binary fashion, encoding the ASCII message "hello" in its rotational frequency. Finally, we observe long-term bimodal periodic dynamics in the rotational motion of a levitated prism that are suggestive of a Dzhanibekov (or tennis-racket)-like effect.