Virtual Experiments with Massive Quantum Systems

What is the gravitational action of a quantum system? How can we do quantum physics with a sufficiently large object in the lab? These are open questions in modern physics. They are at the heart of our research program and motivation for a recent successful experiment: Using an optical tweezer we were able to freeze the motion of a glass sphere with a size comparable to a virus in vacuum to the boundary, which is set by quantum physics. The goal of this science communication project is to convey an intuition for the scope and researchers face in trying to answer the above posed questions, i.e., understanding the gravitational effect of a quantum system. In this activity we will present existing knowledge, define the borders of our understanding and explain how our experiments will penetrate into these unknown realms. In the core of our science communication activity is an interactive virtual reality experience. It will enable the participants to immerse in a laboratory environment, to experience and compare the macroscopic and microscopic views on the envisioned experiments and to understand our experiments by excreting active control on a virtual nanoparticle. The implementation as a Virtual Reality experience is ideal to put the participants into the different perspectives from which the question for the gravitation of a quantum object can be perceived and how it may behave. We aim for a complete implementation as a museum exhibit, where the VR experience is embedded in activities in the real world. For example, it will contain a demonstration experiment on the mechanical action of light, interviews with scientists, 3D animations and scheduled oral presentations for the broad public that will offer the interested visitor the possibility to ask questions. All digital content will be freely available on the internet und presented in popular platforms for Virtual Reality short movies and games.

The project presents an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience, where the visitor is confronted with the questions and methods of a modern quantum physics laboratory. The user is guided by an engaging storyline toward discovering how to use lasers to levitate small particles, how to control their motion, and how to make them behave according to the laws of quantum physics. The VR technology allows the visitor to have an hands-on-experience where he will directly touch, pull, turn, shake and interact with the experiments while guided by the voice of the mysterious lab director. The VR experience allows the visitor to see the world from a perspective that even the experimenters themselves can only imagine.