Cascaded optomechanical sensing for small signals Marchese, Marta M Braun, Daniel Nimmrichter, Stefan Rätzel, Dennis ddc:530 We propose a sensing scheme for detecting weak forces that achieves sensitivity scaling proportional to the number of individual sensors without relying on entanglement or other non-classical resources. Our scheme utilizes coherent averaging across a chain of optomechanical cavities, unidirectionally coupled via a laser beam. As the beam passes through the cavities, it accumulates phase shifts induced by a common external force acting on the mechanical elements. Remarkably, this fully classical approach achieves the sensitivity scaling typically associated with quantum-enhanced protocols, providing a robust and experimentally feasible route to precision sensing. Potential applications range from high-sensitivity gravitational field measurements at the Large Hadron Collider to probing dark matter interactions and detecting gravitational waves. This work opens a new pathway for leveraging coherent light-matter interactions for force sensing. IOP Publishing 2026 info:eu-repo/semantics/article doc-type:Article Article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_2df8fbb1 https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/record/22958 https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/download/22958/23018 Marchese MM, Braun D, Nimmrichter S, Rätzel D. Cascaded optomechanical sensing for small signals. <i>New Journal of Physics</i>. 2026;28(8). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ae8b16">10.1088/1367-2630/ae8b16</a> eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1088/1367-2630/ae8b16 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/e-issn/1367-2630 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/arxiv/2602.08981 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess