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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Fabrication and Testing of Microfluidic Optomechanical Oscillators
Published on: May 29, 2014
Resonant coupling of a Bose-Einstein condensate to a micromechanical oscillator
David Hunger1, Stephan Camerer, Theodor W Hänsch
1Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.
Abstract:
We report experiments in which the vibrations of a micromechanical oscillator are coupled to the motion of Bose-condensed atoms in a trap. The interaction relies on surface forces experienced by the atoms at about 1 microm distance from the mechanical structure. We observe resonant coupling to several well-resolved mechanical modes of the condensate. Coupling via surface forces does not require magnets, electrodes, or mirrors on the oscillator and could thus be employed to couple atoms to molecular-scale oscillators such as carbon nanotubes.
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