Novotny leads the Photonics Lab with a primary focus on levitodynamics. Research directions: (1) Ground-state cooling of levitated nanoparticles — demonstrated quantum control and motional ground state cooling of silica nanospheres in cryogenic free space (Nature 2021) and all 6 degrees of freedom simultaneously via coherent scattering (Nature Physics 2023); (2) Quantum delocalization and matter-wave interference of levitated nanoparticles (arXiv 2408.01264, 2024); (3) Cavity-mediated long-range interactions between multiple levitated nanoparticles, enabling collective quantum sensing arrays; (4) Optical cold damping, measurement-free coherent feedback (PRL 2025); (5) 2D optoelectronics — graphene/hBN/TMD-based laser detectors and modulators. Heavily cited levitodynamics review (Science 2021, joint with Quidant). Group feeds into applications in quantum-limited force sensing and macroscopic quantum tests.