When performing continuous measurements of position with sensitivity approaching quantum mechanical limits, one must confront the fundamental effects of detector back-action. Back-action forces are responsible for the ultimate limit on continuous position detection, can also be harnessed to cool the observed structure, and are expected to generate quantum entanglement. Back-action can also be evaded, allowing measurements with sensitivities that exceed the standard quantum limit, and potentially allowing for the generation of quantum squeezed states. We realize a device based on the parametric coupling between an ultra-low dissipation nanomechanical resonator and a microwave resonator. Here we demonstrate back-action evading (BAE) detection of a single quadrature of motion with sensitivity 4 times the quantum zero-point motion, back-action cooling of the mechanical resonator to n = 12 quanta, and a parametric mechanical pre-amplification effect which is harnessed to achieve position resolution a factor 1.3 times quantum zero-point motion.
Detecting nanomechanical motion has become an important challenge in Science and Technology. Recently, electromechanical coupling to focused electron beams has emerged as a promising method adapted to ultra-low scale systems. However the fundamental measurement processes associated with such complex interaction remain to be explored. Here we report highly sensitive detection of the Brownian motion of um-long semiconducting nanowires (InAs). The measurement imprecision is found to be set by the shot noise of the secondary electrons generated along the electromechanical interaction. By carefully…
The standard quantum limit constrains the precision of an oscillator position measurement. It arises from a balance between the imprecision and the quantum back-action of the measurement. However, a measurement of only a single quadrature of the oscillator can evade the back-action and be made with arbitrary precision. Here we demonstrate quantum back-action evading measurements of a collective quadrature of two mechanical oscillators, both coupled to a common microwave cavity. The work allows for quantum state tomography of two mechanical oscillators, and provides a foundation for macroscopic…
Quantum backaction disturbs the measurement of the position of a mechanical oscillator by introducing additional fluctuations. In a quantum backaction measurement technique, the backaction can be evaded, although at the cost of losing part of the information. In this work, we carry out such a quantum backaction measurement using a large 0.5 mm diameter silicon nitride membrane oscillator with 707 kHz frequency, via a microwave cavity readout. The measurement shows that quantum backaction noise can be evaded in the quadrature measurement of the motion of a large object.
We report on a systematic study of nanomechanical dissipation in high-frequency (approximatively 300 MHz) gallium arsenide optomechanical disk resonators, in conditions where clamping and fluidic losses are negligible. Phonon-phonon interactions are shown to contribute with a loss background fading away at cryogenic temperatures (3 K). Atomic layer deposition of alumina at the surface modifies the quality factor of resonators, pointing towards the importance of surface dissipation. The temperature evolution is accurately fitted by two-level systems models, showing that nanomechanical dissipati…
A single-electron transistor incorporated as part of a nanomechanical resonator represents an extreme limit of electron-phonon coupling. While it allows for fast and sensitive electromechanical measurements, it also introduces backaction forces from electron tunnelling which randomly perturb the mechanical state. Despite the stochastic nature of this backaction, under conditions of strong coupling it is predicted to create self-sustaining coherent mechanical oscillations. Here, we verify this prediction using time-resolved measurements of a vibrating carbon nanotube transistor. This electromec…
We present the exact analytical solution of the explicitly time-periodic quantum Langevin equation describing the dual-beam backaction-evasion measurement of a single mechanical oscillator quadrature due to Braginsky, Vorontsov and Thorne beyond the commonly used rotating-wave approximation. We show that counterrotating terms lead to extra sidebands in the optical and mechanical spectra and to a modification of the main peak. Physically, the backaction of the measurement is due to periodic coupling of the mechanical resonator to a light field quadrature that only contains cavity-filtered shot …
Quantum mechanics dictates that a continuous measurement of the position of an object imposes a random back action perturbation on its momentum. This randomness translates with time into position uncertainty, thus leading to the well known uncertainty on the measurement of motion. Here we demonstrate that the quantum back action on a macroscopic mechanical oscillator measured in the reference frame of an atomic spin oscillator can be evaded. The collective quantum measurement on this novel hybrid system of two distant and disparate oscillators is performed with light. The mechanical oscillator…
We present a semiclassical theory for the delayed response of a quantum dot (QD) to oscillations of a coupled nanomechanical resonator (NR). We prove that the back-action of the QD changes both the resonant frequency and the quality factor of the NR. An increase or decrease in the quality factor of the NR corresponds to either an enhancement or damping of the oscillations, which can also be interpreted as Sisyphus amplification or cooling of the NR by the QD.
Quantum mechanics sets a limit for the precision of continuous measurement of the position of an oscillator. Here we show how it is possible to measure an oscillator without quantum backaction of the measurement by constructing one effective oscillator from two physical oscillators. We realize such a quantum-mechanics free subsystem using two micromechanical oscillators, and show the measurements of two collective quadratures while evading the quantum backaction by $8$ decibels on both of them, obtaining a total noise within a factor two of the full quantum limit. This facilitates detection of…
By shining laser light through a nanomechanical beam, we measure the beam's thermally driven vibrations and perturb its motion with optical forces at a level dictated by the Heisenberg measurement-disturbance uncertainty relation. Such quantum backaction is typically difficult to observe at room temperature where the motion driven by optical quantum intensity fluctuations is many orders of magnitude smaller than the thermal motion. We demonstrate a cross-correlation technique to distinguish optically driven motion from thermally driven motion, observing this quantum backaction signature up to …
Placing a nanomechanical object in the evanescent near-field of a high-$Q$ optical microcavity gives access to strong gradient forces and quantum-noise-limited displacement readout, offering an attractive platform for precision sensing technology and basic quantum optics research. Robustly implementing this platform is challenging, however, as it requires separating optically smooth surfaces by $\lesssimλ/10$. Here we describe a fully-integrated evanescent opto-nanomechanical transducer based on a high-stress Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam monolithically suspended above a SiO$_2$ microdisk cavity. Emplo…
