Cooling is the necessary first step for any optomechanical experiment aiming to unleash the full potential of optical tweezers, both in the context of improving force sensitivity in sensor applications and of studying fundamental quantum physics at the microscale. The purpose of the work described in this dissertation was to improve an optical tweezer setup for electrical feedback cooling of the translational motion of levitated nanoparticles. We implement collection of backscattered light from the particle for improved detection efficiency of motion along the optical axis. Using a numerical simulation environment in Python, we also explore the potential of optomechanical systems as sensors for light states with very low intensities.