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arXiv:1907.06046 · Physical Review Research

Ultranarrow-linewidth levitated nano-oscillator for testing dissipative wave-function collapse

A. Pontin, Nathanaël P. Bullier, Marko Toroš, P. F. Barker

Published Jun 16, 2020• 64 citations
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Abstract

This work measures dissipation affecting a nano-particle levitated in a Paul trap in high vacuum. By evaluating the energy power spectral density of the resulting low frequency harmonic oscillator, the authors spectrally resolve an ultra-narrow linewidth of 80 \textmu{}Hz. These measurements are then used to place bounds on two wavefunctions collapse models in their dissipative variants, namely the continuous spontaneous localization and the Di\'osi-Penrose model

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.2.023349

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This work measures dissipation affecting a nano-particle levitated in a Paul trap in high vacuum. By evaluating the energy power spectral density of the resulting low frequency harmonic oscillator, the authors spectrally resolve an ultra-narrow linewidth of 80 \textmu{}Hz. These measurements are then used to place bounds on two wavefunctions collapse models in their dissipative variants, namely the continuous spontaneous localization and the Di'osi-Penrose model
We present experimental tests of dissipative extensions of spontaneous wave function collapse models based on a levitated micromagnet with ultralow dissipation. The spherical micromagnet, with radius R = 27 µm, is levitated by Meissner effect in a lead trap at 4.2 K and its motion is detected by a SQUID. We perform accurate ringdown measurements on the vertical translational mode with frequency 57 Hz, and infer the residual damping at vanishing pressure γ/2π < 9 µHz. From this upper limit we derive improved bounds on the dissipative versions of the CSL (continuous spontaneous localization) and the DP (Di´osi-Penrose) models. In particular, dissipative models give rise to an intrinsic damping of an isolated system with the effect parameterized by a temperature constant – the dissipative CSL model with temperatures below 1 nK is ruled out, while the dissipative DP model is excluded for temperatures below 10−13 K. Furthermore, we present the first bounds on dissipative effects in a more recent model, which relates the wave function collapse to fluctuations of a generalized complex-valued spacetime metric.
Abstract Collapse models constitute an alternative to quantum mechanics that solve the well-know quantum measurement problem. In this framework, a novel approach to include dissipation in collapse models has been recently proposed, and awaits experimental scrutiny. Our work establishes experimental bounds on the so-constructed linear-friction dissipative Diósi-Penrose (dDP) and Continuous Spontaneous localisation (dCSL) models by exploiting experiments in the field of levitated optomechanics. Our results in the dDP case exclude collapse temperatures below 10−13 K and 6 × 10 − 12 K respectively for values of the localisation length smaller than 10−6 m and 10−8 m. In the dCSL case the entire parameter space is excluded for values of the temperature lower than 6 × 10 − 9 K.
A Superconducting Levitating Oscillator with < 1 μμμHz Resonance Linewidth
Experiments aimed at quantifying the interface between quantum and classical physics necessarily require a high degree of isolation from the environment: wavefunction collapse and quantum gravity effects at laboratory scales are predicted to be very subtle. Ideally, such tests would be performed in a closed system at extremely low temperatures in order to rule out any external influence and thermal fluctuations. Cryogenic levitated macroscopic bodies are excellent candidates for an accurate laboratory approximation of such systems, as a tether to another body would violate the requirement for the system to be fully closed. Here we report a significant milestone on the way to a practically suitable approximation of such closed system. We have built a milligram-mass superconducting oscillator operating at millikelvin temperatures showing extremely low dissipation rate, with the oscillator ring-down time exceeding 110 hours. This corresponds to the resonance linewidth of less than 0.8 μμμHz. The experimental setup is highly tunable and is compatible with adiabatic nuclear demagnetisation, promising even lower temperatures and lower dissipation levels in the future. We demonstrate the capability of our device by measuring drag from 3^33He impurities in superfluid 4^44He at a level of ∼10−8\sim10^{-8}∼10−8 with the drag force in the femtonewton range.
We propose a mechanism for testing the theory of collapse models such as continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) by examining the parametric heating rate of a trapped nanosphere. The random localizations of the center of mass for a given particle predicted by the CSL model can be understood as a stochastic force embodying a source of heating for the nanosphere. We show that by utilizing a Paul trap to levitate the particle and optical cooling, it is possible to reduce environmental decoherence to such a level that CSL dominates the dynamics and contributes the main source of heating. We show that this approach allows measurements to be made on the time scale of seconds and that the free parameter ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathrm{csl}}$ which characterizes the model ought to be testable to values as low as ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}12}$ Hz.