Researchers at the University of Rochester have measured for
the first time light emitted by photoluminescence from a nanodiamond levitating
in free space. In a paper published this week in Optics Letters, they describe
how they used a laser to trap nanodiamonds in space, and – using another laser
– caused the diamonds to emit light at given frequencies.
The experiment, led by Nick Vamivakas, an assistant
professor of optics, demonstrates that it is possible to levitate diamonds as
small as 100 nanometers (approximately one-thousandth the diameter of a human
hair) in free space, by using a technique known as laser trapping.