What this work contributes
Uses a standing-wave trap and feedback cooling for long-duration measurements of small forces. Moving a sphere between known optical-lattice positions calibrates displacement, providing a route that also works for neutral particles.
Where the evidence stops
Sensitivity applies to a trapped nanoparticle with long averaging and controlled conditions. It is not an instantaneous force resolution or a payload rating for a spacecraft thrust stand.
Keep the conditions with the result
- Measured / modeled quantity
- Force sensitivity and displacement calibration
- Reported scale
- 300 nm silica spheres; 1.6 aN/√Hz sensitivity and 6 zN time-averaged force sensing.
- Conditions
- High vacuum at 5 × 10⁻⁶ Torr; optically trapped particle with active feedback cooling.
- Evidence context
- Lattice calibration agreed with electrical calibration for a charged particle; independent replication not assessed.
- Design use
- Show why force sensitivity must state bandwidth, averaging time and supported object.
- Review access
- Accepted-manuscript experimental setup and calibration discussion inspected.
Original source
Gambhir Ranjit, Mark Cunningham, Kirsten Casey, Andrew A. Geraci. Zeptonewton force sensing with nanospheres in an optical lattice. Physical Review A 93, 053801 (2016).
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.053801
How we use it
This record belongs to Measurement & replication. Its evidence label describes the cited work, not the maturity of a Metric Flight device. Follow the original methods, corrections and conditions before transferring a result to a different geometry or scale.
Editorial note reviewed 19 October 2026. AI assisted research discovery and synthesis. Citation metadata and claims were checked against primary publication or institutional records; full-text access varies. Read the source for the complete method.