Article abstract
Nature Physics 5, 509 - 514 (2009)
Published online: 7 June 2009 | doi:10.1038/nphys1304
Subject Category: Electronics, photonics and device physics
Resolved-sideband cooling and position measurement of a micromechanical oscillator close to the Heisenberg uncertainty limit
A. Schliesser1,3, O. Arcizet1,3, R. Rivière1,3, G. Anetsberger1 & T. J. Kippenberg1,2
Abstract
The theory of quantum measurement of mechanical motion, describing the mutual coupling of a meter and a measured object, predicts a variety of phenomena such as quantum backaction, quantum correlations and non-classical states of motion. In spite of great experimental efforts, mostly based on nano-electromechanical systems, probing these in a laboratory setting has as yet eluded researchers. Cavity optomechanical systems, in which a high-quality optical resonator is parametrically coupled to a mechanical oscillator, hold great promise as a route towards the observation of such effects with macroscopic oscillators. Here, we present measurements on optomechanical systems exhibiting radiofrequency (62–122 MHz) mechanical modes, cooled to very low occupancy using a combination of cryogenic precooling and resolved-sideband laser cooling. The lowest achieved occupancy is n
63. Optical measurements of these ultracold oscillators' motion are shown to perform in a near-ideal manner, exhibiting an imprecision–backaction product about one order of magnitude lower than the results obtained with nano-electromechanical transducers.
- Max Planck Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence to: T. J. Kippenberg1,2 e-mail: tobias.kippenberg@epfl.ch
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