Coupler enabled tunable dipole-dipole coupling between optically levitated nanoparticles

Abstract: Multiple optically levitated particles in vacuum can exhibit electrostatic interactions, optical binding, and non-reciprocal light-induced dipole-dipole interactions, making them promising platforms for exploring mesoscopic entanglement and complex interactions. However, in optical trap arrays, individually controlling the position and polarization of each trap is challenging, limiting the precise tuning of interactions between adjacent particles. This constraint hinders the study of complex interaction systems. In this work, we introduce a third nanoparticle as a coupler to two initially non-interacting nanoparticles, achieving tunable dipole-dipole coupling mediated by the third one. We investigated the effect of the particles' phases and positions on the interaction strength and demonstrated its broad tunability. Our method allows for precise control of interactions between any pair of adjacent particles in multi-particle systems, facilitating the further use of levitated nanoparticle arrays in macroscopic quantum mechanics and sensing.