title: Cavity optomechanics of levitated nanodumbbells: nonequilibrium phases and self-assembly.
abstract: Levitated nanospheres in optical cavities open a novel route to study many-body systems out of solution and highly isolated from the environment. We show that properly tuned optical parameters allow for the study of the nonequilibrium dynamics of composite nanoparticles with nonisotropic optical friction. We find optically induced ordering and nematic transitions with nonequilibrium analogs to liquid crystal phases for ensembles of dimers.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lechner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: S J M
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Habraken
authors.affiliation: Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ), Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmannagsse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kiesel
authors.affiliation: Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ), Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmannagsse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aspelmeyer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoller
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000379:methods*