Rotranslational cavity cooling of dielectric rods and disks

Stickler, Benjamin A.; Nimmrichter, Stefan; Martinetz, Lukas; Kühn, Stefan; Arndt, Markus; Hornberger, Klaus

doi:10.1103/physreva.94.033818

Cited by 64 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, spheres are not the only type of extended structures to be trapped in optomechanical levitation experiments. Other asymmetric structures, such as rods or tops, would provide a physical mechanism that separates the energy scales of the different angular momentum states [23][24][25] and could allow the same type of measurements to be performed. The internal states, however, may be even more problematic than the rotational states.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ability to levitate a single particle of matter in an electromagnetic field allows the particle to be isolated from many of the environmental effects that would inhibit the experimental investigation of subtle quantum effects [22]. One particular area of active study which relies on optical trapping is the levitation and cooling of nano-spheres [15], nano-rods [23,24] and other nanostructures [25]. By cooling such objects to very low temperatures, systems should approach the quantum mechanical ground states of their motional degrees of freedom.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupling rotational and translational motion via a continuous measurement in an optomechanical sphere

2016

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We consider a measurement of the position of a spot painted on the surface of a trapped nanooptomechanical sphere. The measurement extracts information about the position of the spot and in doing so measures a combination of the orientation and position of the sphere. The quantum back-action of the measurement entangles and correlates these two degrees of freedom. Such a measurement is not available for atoms or ions, and provides a mechanism to probe the quantum mechanical properties of trapped optomechanical spheres. In performing simulations of this measurement process we also test a numerical method introduced recently by Rouchon and collaborators for solving stochastic master equations. This method guarantees the positivity of the density matrix when the Lindblad operators for all simultaneous continuous measurements are mutually commuting. We show that it is both simpler and far more efficient than previous methods.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling rotational and translational motion via a continuous measurement in an optomechanical sphere

2016

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“…The orientation of the nanoparticle can be cavity or feedback cooled [30,31] leading to a tight alignment of the rotor with the field polarization direction, so that its trapped dynamics are librational rather than rotational. The quantum state of the rotor is then characterized by its librational temperature T and takes the form…”

Section: Alignmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We argue that macroscopic orientational quantum revivals can be observed using existing technology for optically manipulating the motion and alignment of levitated particles [26][27][28][29]. The proposed scheme requires cavity-or feedback-cooling of the nanoparticle rotation [30,31] to below a Kelvin, while it is independent of its center-of-mass temperature. An observation of orientational quantum revivals with nanorotors would substantially advance macroscopic superposition tests, provide the first experimental test of the angular momentum quantization of massive objects, and enable quantum coherent gyroscopic torque sensing with the potential of improving state-of-the-art devices [29,32] by many orders of magnitude.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Probing macroscopic quantum superpositions with nanorotors

et al. 2018

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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.

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“…The rotational motion of a levitated liquid differs from that of a levitated solid (described in Refs. [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75]) in several important respects. These include the liquid's electromagnetic and mechanical isotropy (which should more closely approximate free rotation),the independence between the liquid's external shape and its rotation, and, in the case of superfluid 4 He, dissipationless nonrigid body rotational motion.…”

Section: Rotations a Towards Quantum Nondemolition Measurements mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cavity optomechanics in a levitated helium drop

et al. 2017

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We describe a proposal for a type of optomechanical system based on a drop of liquid helium that is magnetically levitated in vacuum. In the proposed device, the drop would serve three roles: its optical whispering-gallery modes would provide the optical cavity, its surface vibrations would constitute the mechanical element, and evaporation of He atoms from its surface would provide continuous refrigeration. We analyze the feasibility of such a system in light of previous experimental demonstrations of its essential components: magnetic levitation of mm-scale and cm-scale drops of liquid He, evaporative cooling of He droplets in vacuum, and coupling to high-quality optical whispering-gallery modes in a wide range of liquids. We find that the combination of these features could result in a device that approaches the single-photon strong-coupling regime, due to the high optical quality factors attainable at low temperatures. Moreover, the system offers a unique opportunity to use optical techniques to study the motion of a superfluid that is freely levitating in vacuum (in the case of 4 He). Alternatively, for a normal fluid drop of 3 He, we propose to exploit the coupling between the drop's rotations and vibrations to perform quantum nondemolition measurements of angular momentum.

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Rotranslational cavity cooling of dielectric rods and disks

Cited by 64 publications

References 62 publications

Coupling rotational and translational motion via a continuous measurement in an optomechanical sphere

Coupling rotational and translational motion via a continuous measurement in an optomechanical sphere

Probing macroscopic quantum superpositions with nanorotors

Cavity optomechanics in a levitated helium drop

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