Sheehy, Helen (2026) Magnetic levitation of superconducting nanoparticles in wire microchip traps: A platform for gravity induced entanglement experiments. Bachelor's Thesis, Physics.
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Abstract
The Quantum Gravity Induced Entanglement of Masses (QGEM) proposal aims to test whether gravity is a quantum force by observing gravitationally mediated entanglement between levitated particles. A major challenge is that electromagnetic interactions can dominate the much weaker gravitational interaction. Previous theoretical work modelled these interactions for weakly diamagnetic nanodiamonds above a superconducting plate. This thesis extends that framework to superconducting particles by reformulating the electromagnetic interaction potentials, deriving levitation conditions from the balance of gravitational and magnetic forces, and determining the magnetic field gradients, operating currents and trap frequencies required for stable levitation. Lead (Type I) and niobium (Type II) superconductors are compared with nanodiamonds. The results show that superconductivity completely suppresses the electric dipole interaction, eliminating one of the dominant electromagnetic background forces, while the magnetic dipole interaction becomes dominant. Due to their strong diamagnetic response, superconductors reduce the magnetic field gradients required for levitation by five orders of magnitude and the operating currents by three orders of magnitude. These results demonstrate that superconducting particles significantly relax the experimental requirements for magnetic levitation in QGEM experiments, although electromagnetic interactions remain an important technical challenge.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis) |
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| Supervisor name: | Mazumdar, A. and Jones, S.A. |
| Degree programme: | Physics |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2026 11:55 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Jul 2026 11:55 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/37422 |
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