Talk at ONNA 2015

I gave a talk at ONNA2015 (Optical Nanofiber Applications: From Quantum to Bio Technologies) last week, which is a conference held by OIST University on tapered optical fibres. OIST University is based on the sub-tropical island of Okinawa, Japan and is thriving with great scientific research, as well as surrounded by beaches and jungle. I presented new results on active feedback cooling of a microsphere-cantilever using a piezo element, as well as feedback cooling the mechanical modes of the coupling taper using the cavity enhanced optical dipole force. Tapered optical fibres are crucial for my work, as they allow me to excite whispering gallery modes within the microsphere and these resonances both enhance optical forces as well as transduce the centre-of-mass motion of both the microsphere-cantilever and the tapered optical fibre.

The ONNA2015 programme was crammed with invited speakers from around the world, on a broad range of subjects from nano-fabrication, non-linear optics, plasmonics and cold atoms.