A Levitated Random Telegraph Noise Spectrometer

Molly Message; Bianca C. J. Uy; Katie O'Flynn; Yugang Ren; Muddassar Rashid; Jonathan D. Pritchett; Qiongyuan Wu; Hyukjoon Kwon; Benjamin A. Stickler; James Millen

arXiv · 2605.27118

A Levitated Random Telegraph Noise Spectrometer

Molly Message·Bianca C. J. Uy·Katie O'Flynn·Yugang Ren·Muddassar Rashid·Jonathan D. Pritchett·Qiongyuan Wu·Hyukjoon Kwon·Benjamin A. Stickler·James Millen

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Abstract

Random Telegraph Noise is a ubiquitous process manifesting across technology and the natural world. It is characterized by random jumps between two distinct states with Poissonian waiting times, and is the origin of 1/f noise. Understanding and characterizing this noise is critical for the reliable operation of micro-, nano- and quantum-technologies. In this work we probe random telegraph noise using a levitated microparticle sensor whose dynamics are driven almost entirely by this non-white source of noise. We observe a startling resonant behaviour, characterized by a thousand-fold increase in the underdamped sensor's position fluctuations, enabling us to measure the spectral properties of the noise over six decades of timescale. This work not only provides a unique way to probe random telegraph noise, but also demonstrates a platform for studying non-equilibrium stochastic dynamics in the presence of realistic non-white noise, with applications from biology to social behaviour.

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physics.ins-det cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.soft cond-mat.stat-mech

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Molly Message, Bianca C. J. Uy, Katie O'Flynn, Yugang Ren, Muddassar Rashid, Jonathan D. Pritchett, Qiongyuan Wu, Hyukjoon Kwon, Benjamin A. Stickler, James Millen. 2026-05-26. A Levitated Random Telegraph Noise Spectrometer. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27118

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