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Phase-adaptive cooling of fringe-trapped nanoparticles at room temperature in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Soumya Chakraborty1,2,*, Gordon K. L. Wong2,†, Pardeep Kumar2,‡, Hyunjun Nam1,2, Claudiu Genes3,2, and Nicolas Y. Joly1,2,§

  • *Contact author: soumya.chakraborty@mpl.mpg.de
  • †Contact author: gordon.wong@mpl.mpg.de
  • ‡Contact author: pardeep.kumar@mpl.mpg.de
  • §Contact author: nicolas.joly@fau.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043301 – Published 16 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cg5v-lpjy

Abstract

Active feedback cooling of levitated dielectric particles is a pivotal technique for creating ultrasensitive sensors and probing fundamental physics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate phase-adaptive feedback cooling of silica nanoparticles optically trapped in standing-wave potential formed by two co-linearly polarized counterpropagating diffraction-free guided modes in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber at room temperature. Unlike standard laser intensity- or Coulomb force-based feedback, our approach modulates the relative optical phase between the counterpropagating fiber-guided fundamental modes proportionally to the particle's axial momentum. This generates a Stokes-like dissipative force that effectively damps the center-of-mass motion without introducing excess recoil heating and can also work with uncharged particles. At 2 mbar air pressure, the axial center-of-mass temperature of a 195 nm silica particle is reduced by half upon application of the feedback and to 58.6 K at 0.5 mbar. The measured mechanical spectra agree well with our analytical model, validating the cooling mechanism. We envision that this approach will open up pathways toward long-range, coherent control of mesoscopic particles inside hollow-core fibers, offering a fiber-integrated versatile platform for future quantum manipulation.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043301– Published 16 December, 2025
  • Received 23 July 2025
  • Revised 19 September 2025
  • Accepted 14 November 2025
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