TY - JOUR

T1 - Phonon counting thermometry of an ultracoherent membrane resonator near its motional ground state

AU - Galinskiy, I.

AU - Tsaturyan, Y.

AU - Parniak, M.

AU - Polzik, E. S.

PY - 2020/6/20

Y1 - 2020/6/20

N2 - The generation of non-Gaussian quantum states of macroscopic mechanical objects is key to a number of challenges in quantum information science, ranging from fundamental tests of decoherence to quantum communication and sensing. Heralded generation of single-phonon states of mechanical motion is an attractive way toward this goal, as it is, in principle, not limited by the object size. Here we demonstrate a technique that allows for generation and detection of a quantum state of motion by phonon counting measurements near the ground state of a 1.5 MHz micromechanical oscillator. We detect scattered photons from a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system using an ultra-narrowband optical filter, and perform Raman-ratio thermometry and second-order intensity interferometry near the motional ground state ((n) over bar = 0.23 +/- 0.02 phonons). With an effective mass in the nanogram range, our system lends itself for studies of long-lived non-Gaussian motional states with some of the heaviest objects to date. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

AB - The generation of non-Gaussian quantum states of macroscopic mechanical objects is key to a number of challenges in quantum information science, ranging from fundamental tests of decoherence to quantum communication and sensing. Heralded generation of single-phonon states of mechanical motion is an attractive way toward this goal, as it is, in principle, not limited by the object size. Here we demonstrate a technique that allows for generation and detection of a quantum state of motion by phonon counting measurements near the ground state of a 1.5 MHz micromechanical oscillator. We detect scattered photons from a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system using an ultra-narrowband optical filter, and perform Raman-ratio thermometry and second-order intensity interferometry near the motional ground state ((n) over bar = 0.23 +/- 0.02 phonons). With an effective mass in the nanogram range, our system lends itself for studies of long-lived non-Gaussian motional states with some of the heaviest objects to date. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

KW - QUANTUM COMMUNICATION

KW - INTERFEROMETRY

KW - GENERATION

KW - MEMORY

KW - CAVITY

U2 - 10.1364/OPTICA.390939

DO - 10.1364/OPTICA.390939

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 718

EP - 725

JO - Optica

JF - Optica

SN - 2334-2536

IS - 6

ER -