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Orientational quantum revivals of nanoscale rotors

Benjamin A. Stickler, Birthe Papendell, Stefan Kühn, James Millen, Markus Arndt, Klaus Hornberger

Published Mar 5, 2018• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

We propose an experimentally viable scheme to probe orientational quantum revivals with nanoscale particles, an interference effect of the rotational degrees of freedom testifying a superposition of all orientations. Our simulations demonstrate that such revivals are observable with current technology, even in the presence of environmental decoherence, using carbon nanotubes or silicon nanorods with a length of 50 nm. This opens the door to tests of rotational quantum physics with submicron objects and to quantum gyroscopic torque sensors.

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We propose an experimentally viable scheme to probe orientational quantum revivals with nanoscale particles, an interference effect of the rotational degrees of freedom testifying a superposition of all orientations. Our simulations demonstrate that such revivals are observable with current technology, even in the presence of environmental decoherence, using carbon nanotubes or silicon nanorods with a length of 50 nm. This opens the door to tests of rotational quantum physics with submicron objects and to quantum gyroscopic torque sensors.
Whether quantum physics is universally valid is an open question with far-reaching implications. Intense research is therefore invested into testing the quantum superposition principle with ever heavier and more complex objects. Here we propose a radically new, experimentally viable route towards studies at the quantum-to-classical borderline by probing the orientational quantum revivals of a nanoscale rigid rotor. The proposed interference experiment testifies a macroscopic superposition of all possible orientations. It requires no diffraction grating, uses only a single levitated particle, and works with moderate motional temperatures under realistic environmental conditions. The first exploitation of quantum rotations of a massive object opens the door to new tests of quantum physics with submicron particles and to quantum gyroscopic torque sensors, holding the potential to improve state-of-the-art devices by many orders of magnitude.
The intrinsically nonlinear rotation dynamics of rigid bodies offer unprecedented ways to exploit their quantum motion. In this Letter, we devise a rotational analog of Mach-Zehnder interferometry, which allows steering symmetric rotors from fully aligned to completely antialigned. The scheme uses a superposition of four distinct orientations, emerging at the eighth of the quantum revival time, whose interference can be controlled by a weak laser pulse. We develop a semiclassical model of the effect and demonstrate that it persists even in presence of imperfections and decoherence.
Recent advances in levitated optomechanics provide new perspectives for the use of rotational degrees of freedom for the development of quantum technologies as well as for testing fundamental physics. As for the translational case, their use, especially in the quantum regime, is limited by environmental noises, the characterization of which is fundamental in order to assess, control, and minimize their effect, in particular decoherence. Here, we present a general perturbative approach to compute decoherence for a quantum system in a superposition of its rotational degrees of freedom. The specific cases of the dipole-dipole and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions are solved explicitly, and we show that the rotational degrees of freedom decohere on a time scale that can be longer than the translational one.
The quantum rotor is one of the simplest model systems in quantum mechanics, but only in recent years has theoretical work revealed general fundamental scaling laws for its decoherence. For example, a superposition of orientations decoheres at a rate proportional to the sine squared of the angle between them. Here, we observe scaling laws for rotational decoherence dynamics for the first time, using a 4 μm diameter planar rotor composed of two Paul-trapped ions. We prepare the rotational motion of the ion crystal into superpositions of angular momentum with well-defined differences ranging from 1-3ℏ, and measure the rate of decoherence. We also tune the system-environment interaction strength by introducing resonant electric field noise. The observed scaling relationships for decoherence are in excellent agreement with recent theoretical work, and are directly relevant to the growing development of rotor-based quantum applications.
In this thesis I present a universal scheme to assess the macroscopicity of experimentally fabricated quantum superposition states based on the degree to which they probe the boundaries of quantum mechanics. The measure relies on the falsification of the weakest macrorealist modifications of quantum mechanics; it treats all experiments in an equal manner, regardless the actual form and size of the empirical data, using an uninformative approach to Bayesian inference. The versatility of this scheme is illustrated by applying it on state-of-the-art quantum tests where the study of minimal modifications of quantum mechanics often coincides with the examination of conventional decoherence effects. Finally, the environmental impact on orientational degrees of freedom, leading to diffusion, friction, and thermalization, are described analytically. Together with the formulation of minimal modifications of quantum mechanics applied to orientational degrees of freedom this paves the way for a thorough description of experiments with levitated nanorotors and the assessment of the respective macroscopicities.
A molecular rotor mechanism is proposed to explain weak magnetic field effects in biology. Despite being nanoscale (1 nm), this rotor exhibits quantum superposition and interference. Analytical modeling shows its quantum dynamics are highly sensitive to weak, but not strong, magnetic fields. Due to its enhanced moment of inertia, the rotor maintains quantum coherence relatively long, even in a noisy cellular environment. Operating at the mesoscopic boundary between quantum and classical behavior, such a rotor embedded in cyclical biological processes could exert significant and observable biological influence.