Mechanical resonators operating in the quantum regime can provide a large set of new possibilities ranging from experiments on the foundations of quantum physics to their application as force sen- sors or as interfaces in quantum information devices. Cavity-optomechanics relies on the control and readout of mechanical resonators with electromagnetic fields.During the last few years, quantum control has been achieved in several different cavity-optomechanical systems. Optical levitation promises to extend standard cavity-optomechanics significantly: it enables the fast and flexible control of the potential landscape experienced by a mechanical object, building the bridge to matter wave interferometry and providing a new platform for experiments on stochastic and eventually quantum thermodynamics with a single of few particles.

After a brief introduction to the state of the art in quantum cavity-optomechanics and optical levitation, I will present our progress towards quantum control of levitated nanoparticles in optical cavities. I will also discuss some of our recent results on (classical) stochastic thermodynamics using Levitated nanoparticles.