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arXiv:1311.1559 · Physical Review A

Single-atom quantum control of macroscopic mechanical oscillators

Francesco Bariani, Johannes Otterbach, Huatang Tan, Pierre Meystre

Published Jan 8, 2014• 16 citations
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Abstract

We investigate a hybrid electromechanical system consisting of a pair of charged macroscopic mechanical oscillators coupled to a small ensemble of Rydberg atoms. The resonant dipole-dipole coupling between an internal atomic Rydberg transition and the mechanics allows cooling to its motional ground state with a single atom despite the considerable mass imbalance between the two subsystems. We show that the rich electronic spectrum of Rydberg atoms, combined with their high degree of optical control, paves the way towards implementing various quantum-control protocols for the mechanical oscillators.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.011801

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We investigate a hybrid electromechanical system consisting of a pair of charged macroscopic mechanical oscillators coupled to a small ensemble of Rydberg atoms. The resonant dipole-dipole coupling between an internal atomic Rydberg transition and the mechanics allows cooling to its motional ground state with a single atom despite the considerable mass imbalance between the two subsystems. We show that the rich electronic spectrum of Rydberg atoms, combined with their high degree of optical control, paves the way towards implementing various quantum-control protocols for the mechanical oscillators.
We propose and investigate a hybrid optomechanical system consisting of a micro-mechanical oscillator coupled to the internal states of a distant ensemble of atoms. The interaction between the systems is mediated by a light field which allows the coupling of the two systems in a modular way over long distances. Coupling to internal degrees of freedom of atoms opens up the possibility to employ high-frequency mechanical resonators in the MHz to GHz regime, such as optomechanical crystal structures, and to benefit from the rich toolbox of quantum control over internal atomic states. Previous schemes involving atomic motional states are rather limited in both of these aspects. We derive a full quantum model for the effective coupling including the main sources of decoherence. As an application we show that sympathetic ground-state cooling and strong coupling between the two systems is possible.
Quantum squeezing in macroscopic oscillator systems plays a critical role in bridging quantum mechanics with classical-scale phenomena, enabling high-precision measurements and fundamental tests of quantum physics. In this work, we investigate the effect of squeezing on the phonon state in a hybrid macroscopic mechanical system consisting of an ensemble of Rydberg atoms coupled to two macroscopic mechanical oscillators. We notice that the dipole–dipole coupling between atoms and mechanical oscillators can be transferred to the indirectly coupled mechanical interaction, and the nonlinear effective Hamiltonian can be solved to generate a squeezed effect on the mechanical mode. We also discuss the noise effects induced by amplitude and phase fluctuations on the squeezed quadratures of the system.
We explore the possibility of engineering quantum states of a charged mechanical oscillator by coupling it to a stream of atoms in superpositions of high-lying Rydberg states. Our scheme relies on the driving of a two-phonon resonance within the oscillator by coupling it to an atomic two-photon transition. This approach effectuates a controllable open system dynamics on the oscillator that in principle permits versatile dissipative creation of squeezed and other nonclassical states which are central to sensing applications or for studies of fundamental questions concerning the boundary between classical and quantum-mechanical descriptions of macroscopic objects. We show that these features survive thermal coupling of the oscillator with the environment. We perform a detailed feasibility study finding that current state-of-the-art parameters result in atom-oscillator couplings which are too weak to efficiently implement the proposed oscillator state preparation protocol. Finally, we comment on ways to circumvent the present limitations.
Hybrid quantum systems provide a promising route toward combining the complementary strengths of distinct physical platforms for quantum information processing. In this context, highly excited Rydberg atoms are particularly attractive due to their strong electric dipole moments, long lifetimes, and compatibility with both optical and microwave frequency regimes. Mechanical resonators, on the other hand, offer long coherence times and the ability to store quantum information in macroscopic degrees of freedom. In this thesis, the development of a novel hybrid platform interfacing ultracold Rydberg atoms with high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonators (HBARs) in a cryogenic environment is presented. The core components of the experimental apparatus have been designed, assembled, and characterized, including a room-temperature realization featuring the complete cold-atom preparation chain. A first-generation superconducting atom chip for trapping ultracold atoms in a cryogenic environment has been designed and fabricated, establishing the foundation for future experiments under cryogenic conditions. The full experimental realization of the hybrid system, including the integration of the mechanical resonator, was delayed by the delivery of a custom-built cryostat. Nevertheless, the preparation of the cryogenic experiment has been completed, enabling rapid progress toward first experiments once cryogenic operation becomes available. At an operating temperature of 4 K, thermal phonon occupation of HBAR modes is significantly reduced compared to room temperature but remains above the quantum ground state, motivating the development of active cooling strategies. Complementing the experimental work, the feasibility of cooling a mechanical mode toward its quantum mechanical ground state using a cloud of Rydberg atoms is investigated theoretically. In this approach, Rydberg atoms act as a dissipative resource that extracts phononic excitations from the mechanical resonator and removes them via radiative decay. Furthermore, the potential of Rydberg atom-mediated interactions to generate entanglement between spatially separated mechanical oscillators is analyzed. Together, these results establish a foundation for future experimental investigations of Rydberg atom–mechanical oscillator hybrid systems.
We demonstrate cooling of the motion of a single neutral atom confined by a dipole trap inside a high-finesse optical resonator. Cooling of the vibrational motion results from electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)--like interference in an atomic $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type configuration, where one transition is strongly coupled to the cavity mode and the other is driven by an external control laser. Good qualitative agreement with the theoretical predictions is found for the explored parameter ranges. Further, we demonstrate EIT cooling of atoms in the dipole trap in free space, reaching the ground state of axial motion. By means of a direct comparison with the cooling inside the resonator, the role of the cavity becomes evident by an additional cooling resonance. These results pave the way towards a controlled interaction among atomic, photonic, and mechanical degrees of freedom.
We investigate dynamical properties and the ground-state cooling of a mechanical oscillator in an optomechanical system coupling with an atomic ensemble. In this hybrid optomechanical system, an atomic ensemble which consists of two-level atoms couples with the cavity field. Here we consider the case where the atomic ensemble is in higher excitation. Studies show that the atom-field coupling strength can obviously influence the cooling process, and we can achieve the ground-state cooling of the mechanical oscillator by choosing the appropriate physical parameters of the system. Our cooling mechanism has potential applications in quantum information processing and procession measurement.