arXiv:cond-mat/0406058 · Physical Review B
Generation of squeezed states of nanomechanical resonators by reservoir engineering
Peter Rabl, Alexander Shnirman, P. Zoller
Abstract
An experimental demonstration of a nonclassical state of a nanomechanical resonator is still an outstanding task. In this paper we show how the resonator can be cooled and driven into a squeezed state by a bichromatic microwave coupling to a charge qubit. The stationary resonator state exhibits a reduced noise in one of the quadrature components by a factor of 0.5--0.2. These values are obtained for a 100 MHz resonator with a $Q$-value of ${10}^{4}$ to ${10}^{5}$ and for support temperatures of $T\ensuremath{\approx}25\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mK}$. We show that the coupling to the charge qubit can also be used to detect the squeezed state via measurements of the excited state population. Furthermore, by extending this measurement procedure a complete quantum state tomography of the resonator state can be performed. This provides a universal tool to detect a large variety of different states and to prove the quantum nature of nanomechanical systems.