Sub-femto-Newton sensing torsion pendulum for detection of light force

Mechanical oscillators are widely used in many fields of physics, including ultrahigh precision measurements, gravity experiments, and optical mechanical systems. A sub-gram-scale silicon wafer is suspended by a tungsten wire with a diameter of 8 µm, forming a torsion pendulum to detect the laser radiation pressure. We demonstrate the application of a low-frequency, highly sensitive torsion pendulum for the measurement of light forces. In the feedback cooling state, the system exhibits a force sensitivity at the end of the pendulum close to 0.1 fN, approaches the thermal noise limit, and reaches the detection level of the laser radiation pressure of 60 nW.