Wavefront Shaping of Scattering Forces Enhances Optical Trapping of Levitated Nanoparticles

Optically-levitated nanoparticles in vacuum offer a pristine platform for high-quality mechanical oscillators, enabling a wide range of precision measurements and quantum technologies. A key performance metric in such systems is the stiffness of the optical trap, which is typically enhanced by increasing laser power—at the cost of unwanted heating, reduced coherence, and enhanced quantum backaction. Here, we demonstrate an innovative route to increasing trap stiffness: wavefront shaping of the optical field. By tailoring the spatial phase profile of the trapping beam, we significantly boost the mechanical confinement of subwavelength particles without raising the optical intensity. Remarkably, this enhancement arises from a selective reduction of non-conservative optical forces, while preserving the conservative restoring forces that define trap stiffness. As a result, mechanical nonlinearities are also reduced, improving stability at low pressures. Our findings challenge the long-standing assumption that diffraction-limited focusing is optimal for dipolar Rayleigh particles, and establish wavefront shaping as a powerful, readily applicable tool to control optomechanical forces in levitation experiments. This opens avenues for minimizing backaction, reducing thermal decoherence, and expanding the range of materials that can be stably levitated.