We propose a scheme to measure the quantum state of a nanomechanical oscillator cooled near its ground state of vibrational motion. This is an extension of the nonlinear atomic homodyning technique scheme first developed to measure the intracavity field in a micromaser. It involves the use of a detector atom that is simultaneously coupled to the resonator via a magnetic interaction and to (classical) optical fields via a Raman transition. We show that the probability for the atom to be found in the ground state is a direct measure of the Wigner characteristic function of the nanomechanical oscillator. We also investigate the back-action effect of this destructive measurement on the state of the resonator.
We propose a scheme to measure the quantum state of a nanomechanical oscillator cooled near its ground state of vibrational motion. This is an extension of the nonlinear atomic homodyning technique scheme first developed to measure the intracavity field in a micromaser. It involves the use of a detector atom that is simultaneously coupled to the resonator via a magnetic interaction and to (classical) optical fields via a Raman transition. We show that the probability for the atom to be found in the ground state is a direct measure of the Wigner characteristic function of the nanomechanical oscillator. We also investigate the back-action effect of this destructive measurement on the state of the resonator.
We propose a scheme to measure the quantum state of a nanomechanical oscillator cooled near its ground state of vibrational motion. This is an extension of the nonlinear atomic homodyning technique scheme first developed to measure the intracavity field in a micromaser. It involves the use of a detector atom that is simultaneously coupled to the resonator via a magnetic interaction and to (classical) optical fields via a Raman transition. We show that the probability for the atom to be found in the ground state is a direct measure of the Wigner characteristic function of the nanomechanical oscillator. We also investigate the back-action effect of this destructive measurement on the state of the resonator.
We propose a scheme to measure the quantum state of a nanomechanical oscillator cooled near its ground state of vibrational motion. This is an extension of the nonlinear atomic homodyning technique scheme first developed to measure the intracavity field in a micromaser. It involves the use of a detector-atom that is simultaneously coupled to the cantilever via a magnetic interaction and to (classical) optical fields via a Raman transition. We show that the probability for the atom to be found in the excited state is a direct measure of the Wigner characteristic function of the nanomechanical oscillator. We also investigate the backaction effect of this destructive measurement on the state of the cantilever.
The application of quantum mechanics to macroscopic motion suggests many counterintuitive phenomena. While the quantum nature of the motion of individual atoms and molecules has long been successfully studied, an equivalent demonstration of the motion of a near-macroscopic structure remains a challenge in experimental physics. A nanomechanical resonator is an excellent system for such a study. It typically contains > 10 10 atoms, and it may be modeled in terms of macroscopic parameters such as bulk density and elasticity. Yet it behaves like a simple harmonic oscillator, with mass low enough and resonant frequency high enough for its quantum zero-point motion and single energy quanta to be experimentally accessible. In pursuit of quantum phenomena in a mechanical oscillator, two important goals are to prepare the oscillator in its quantum ground state, and to measure its position with a precision limited by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In this work we have demonstrated techniques that advance towards both of these goals. Our system comprises a 30 micron × 170 nm, 2.2 pg, 5.57 MHz nanomechanical resonator capacitively coupled to a 5 GHz superconducting microwave resonator. The microwave resonator and nanomechanical resonator are fabricated together onto a single silicon chip and measured in a dilution refrigerator at temperatures below 150 mK. At these temperatures the coupling of the motion to the thermal environment is very small, resulting in a very high mechanical Q, approaching ∼ 10 6 . By driving with a microwave pump signal, we observed sidebands generated by the mechanical motion and used these to measure the thermal motion of the resonator. Applying a pump tone red-detuned from the microwave resonance, we used the microwave field to damp the mechanical resonator, extracting energy and "cooling" the motion in a manner similar to optical cooling of trapped atoms. Starting from a mode temperature of ∼ 150 mK, we reached ∼ 40 mK by this "backaction cooling" technique, corresponding to an occupation factor only ∼ 150 times above the ground state of motion. We also determined the precision of our device in measurement of position. Quantum mechanics dictates that, in a continuous position measurement, the precision may be no better than the zero-point motion of the resonator. Increasing the coupling of the resonator to detector will eventually result in back-action driving of the motion, adding imprecision and enforcing this limit. We demonstrated that our system is capable of precisions approaching this limit, and identified the primary experimental factors preventing us from reaching it: noise added to the measurement by our amplifier, and excess dissipation appearing in our microwave resonator at high pump powers. Furthermore, by applying both red- and blue-detuned phase-coherent microwave pump signals, we demonstrated back-action evading (BAE) measurement sensitive to only a single quadrature of the motion. By avoiding the back-action driving in the measured quadrature, such a technique has the potential for precisions surpassing the limit of the zero-point motion. With this method, we achieved a measurement precision of ∼ 100 fm, or 4 times the quantum zero-point motion of the mechanical resonator. We found that the measured quadrature is insensitive to back-action driving by at least a factor of 82 relative to the unmeasured quadrature. We also identified a mechanical parametric amplification effect which arises during the BAE measurement. This effect sets limits on the BAE performance but also mechanically preamplifies the motion, resulting in a position resolution 1.3 times the zero-point motion. We discuss how to overcome the experimental limits set by amplifier noise, pump power and parametric amplification. These results serve to define the path forward for demonstrating truly quantum-limited measurement and non-classical states of motion in a nearly-macroscopic object.
For decades, quantum mechanics has been a hugely successful theory for understanding the microscopic world. Despite its seemingly non-physical predictions, such as superposition or cat states, the accuracy of the theory has been verified time and again for microscopic systems composed of single atoms or other quantum particles. Up till now, however, our understanding of how and if these quantum predictions scale to larger systems closer to our everyday perceptions, where we do not see quantum "weirdness", is an open question. One platform to pursue observation of quantum effects in a system composed of large ensembles of atoms rather than single particles is that of nanomechanical resonators. Several schemes have been proposed to observe quantum effects in these systems, eg [1],[41], but a common feature is the requirement that the mechanical resonator be at or near its quantum ground state, which has proved challenging to achieve. In this dissertation, a novel mechanical motion readout scheme using superconducting resonators is presented and shown to allow near quantum limited detection. In any strong measurement of a system, quantum mechanics dictates that the measurement will inherently produce some "back-action" on the measured system. It will be shown that for the measurement system presented, back-action forces can additionally be used to cool a single mode of a mechanical resonator to near its quantum ground state, with the lowest observed occu- pation factor at 3.8 ±1.3 quanta. This is a low enough occupation level that the nanoresonator is in its ground state statistically 21% of the time and opens up the possibility of preforming further quantum experiments. The system investigated in this dissertation is composed of a nanoscale mechanical resonator capacitively coupled to a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator. The resonators were nanofabricated on a silicon substrate and cooled to low temperature in a dilution refrigerator system. Applying microwave signals to the device and measuring output spectra provided the means to both observe the mechanical motion and produce the back-action forces.
This thesis concentrates on generating and measuring non-classical states of mechanical oscillators by coupling them to atomic and molecular quantum systems. We start with a discussion of what novel physics can be explored by mechanical systems operating in the quantum regime. We then discuss one technique making it a possibility- cavity optomechanics, particularly optomechanical cooling. We investigate the limits of optomechanical cooling and review how the coupling of mechanical oscillators to external heat baths limits the minimum attainable phonon occupation number. As a possible alternative for circumventing clamping losses, we consider an all-optical approach where the mechanical element (in this case, a Bragg mirror) is suspended via optical forces, and discuss some limitations of this approach. We explore several schemes aimed at the generation of quantum states in mechanical oscillators. We consider specifically two examples: one in which the mechanical oscillator is coupled to polar molecules via dipole-dipole interaction, and another where it is magnetically coupled to a Bose condensate. The first example emphasizes that such an interaction can generate parametric squeezing and entanglement. The second scheme demonstrates that the back action of BEC spin measurements can be used to generate quantum states of motion of a mechanical oscillator. We then discuss possible methods for measuring the entire density matrix of a mechanical oscillator. The first method achieves the tomographic reconstruction of the mechanical Wigner function by coupling it simultaneously to a classical optical oscillator and a qubit. The second approach involves a state transfer scheme between momentum excitations of a bose-condensate in a cavity and a moving mirror of the cavity that is entirely mediated by the light field. We conclude with a discussion of the broader implications of this work, and some future research directions.