Favero, Ivan

The optomechanics way to probe matter

Ivan Favero - Université Paris Cité, CNRS, France

An optomechanical body has a dual optical and mechanical nature, enabling it to interact with its environment in a variety of ways. If this object is transformed into a mesoscopic probe, a number of advantages emerge: extreme sensitivity, previously unattainable temporal resolution, responsivity to several types of force, as well as high spatial selectivity. I will discuss original devices and instruments born of this optomechanical approach, which today enables us to measure matter in almost any state: solid, soft or liquid. Applications will cover atomic force microscopy, nanophysics of fluids, and dynamical measurement of individual biological objects.