Project description
Levitated nanoparticles boost understanding of quantum behaviour in large systems
Tiny particles floating in controlled environments might hold the key to one of physics biggest questions: how quantum mechanics applies to larger objects. While the rules of quantum mechanics are well-tested for atoms and molecules, scaling them up to more massive systems remains challenging. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NAFTINI project will cool and neutralise levitated nanoparticles. These particles will then be launched in a fountain-like motion, reaching a point where their quantum state is maximally expanded. At this apex, they will interact with nano-sharp tips, allowing precise particle manipulation without light interference. This set-up will offer researchers a new way to study the mysterious transition between the quantum and classical worlds.
Objective
Quantum mechanics has been verified with high precision in atomic and molecular systems, yet its extension to macroscopic objects remains unresolved and poses major conceptual and experimental challenges. Levitated nanoparticles are uniquely suited to address this gap owing to their large mass and coherence length. Progress is limited by two challenges: (i) expanding nanoparticle wavefunctions to nanometre scales without decoherence, and (ii) coupling these expanded states to a structured potential with matching spatial nonlinearity, so that non-Gaussian features can be created, measured, and analysed. State-of-the-art optical control faces a fundamental trade-off: strong optical gradients are diffraction-limited and introduce decoherence through photon recoil.
NAFTINI (NAnoparticle Fountain for TIp-based Nonlinear Interaction) addresses these challenges by combining neutral, optically prepared nanoparticles with electrostatically engineered, nanosharp tips positioned at the apex of a free-flight fountain trajectory. A dielectric nanoparticle is trapped and cooled in an optical tweezer, neutralised, launched upward by dynamically shifting the potential, and recaptured after a controlled free evolution of a few milliseconds. At the apex, where the quantum wavefunction is maximally expanded and the particle is outside the optical focus, it traverses the near field of a biased nanotip whose curvature defines the spatial scale of the nonlinearity. The architecture will be calibrated against decoherence sources and enables light-free, nanometre-scale manipulation with attonewton forces, while preserving the isolation of a neutral polarisable particle outside the immediate tip region where gradients are high. This way, NAFTINI will provide a reproducible platform for probing quantum behaviour of mesoscopic objects.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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8092 Zuerich
Switzerland
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