Project

optomechanics; quantum optomechanics; precision sensing; nanomechanical oscillator; quality factor; mechanical dissipation; interferometry; micro-fabrication

Lead
L’optomeccanica quantistica sonda i limiti della meccanica quantistica applicata ad oggetti macroscopici ed aspira ad esercitare controllo quantistico su oscillatori meccanici. Le perdite di un oscillatore meccanico ne determinano il tasso di decoerenza termica e limitano la sensibilità nella misura di forze esterne. Tecniche di confinamento fononico e di manipolazione degli sforzi elastici hanno consentito di realizzare dispositivi nanomeccanici ultracoerenti con fattori di qualità (Q) superiori a 0.8 miliardi a temperatura ambiente, in contrasto con un comune assunto che associava un elevato Q a risonatori macroscopici e voluminosi.Tuttavia, rimangono inesplorate diverse possibilità per incrementare la coerenza delle oscillazioni meccaniche, ad esempio usando materiali monocristallini.In questo progetto, svilupperemo e raffineremo nuovi oscillatori meccanici per sistemi opto- ed elettro-meccanici dall’eccezionale coerenza temporale.
Lay summary
L’optomeccanica quantistica sonda i limiti della meccanica quantistica applicata ad oggetti macroscopici ed aspira ad esercitare controllo quantistico su oscillatori meccanici. Le perdite di un oscillatore meccanico ne determinano il tasso di decoerenza termica e limitano la sensibilità nella misura di forze esterne. Tecniche di confinamento fononico e di manipolazione degli sforzi elastici hanno consentito di realizzare dispositivi nanomeccanici ultracoerenti con fattori di qualità (Q) superiori a 0.8 miliardi a temperatura ambiente, in contrasto con un comune assunto che associava un elevato Q a risonatori macroscopici e voluminosi. Tuttavia, rimangono inesplorate diverse possibilità per incrementare la coerenza delle oscillazioni meccaniche, ad esempio usando materiali monocristallini. In questo progetto, svilupperemo e raffineremo nuovi oscillatori meccanici per sistemi opto- ed elettro-meccanici dall’eccezionale coerenza temporale. Ci proponiamo di sviluppare una nuova generazione di oscillatori meccanici dalla dissipazione eccezionalmente ridotta. A tal fine, implementeremo nuove architetture per accentuare gli sforzi elastici, ed adotteremo materiali monocristallini. Questi sviluppi renderanno l’optomeccanica quantistica accessibile a temperatura ambiente, incrementandone significamente la rilevanza tecnologica. Gli oscillatori meccanici sono onnipresenti nell’odierna tecnologia dell’informazione e nella sensoristica di precisione (filtri a radiofrequenze nei cellulari, accelerometri integrati, microscopia a scansione di sonda con risoluzione atomica,...). Oscillatori con ridotta dissipazione sono inoltre essenziali per l’optomeccanica, che ha prodotto un’intera classe di esperimenti volti a svelare la natura quantistica degli oscillatori meccanici.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 09.11.2018

3D model of widely tunable automated microwave filter cavity

Author	Joshi, Yash J.; Sauerwein, Nick; Youssefi, Amir; Uhrich, Philipp; Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Publication date	01.03.2021
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.4470044
Repository	ZENODO

Data and code for "Clamp-tapering increases the quality factor of stressed nanobeams"

Author	Bereyhi, Mohammad. J.; Beccari, Alberto; Fedorov, Sergey A.; Ghadimi, Amir H.; Schilling, Ryan; Wilson, Dalziel J.; Engelsen, Nils J.; Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Publication date	10.04.2019
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.1494218
Repository	ZENODO

Mathematica notebook for the calculation of spectra and Qs of self-similar binary tree resonators

Author	Fedorov, S. A.; Beccari, A.; Engelsen, N. J.; Kippenberg, T. J.
Publication date	16.01.2020
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.3496611
Repository	ZENODO

Mathematica package for calculation of Q factors of strained non-uniform beams

Author	Fedorov, S. A.; Engelsen, N. J.; Ghadimi, A. H.; Bereyhi, M. J.; Schilling, R.; Wilson, D. J.; Kippenberg, T. J.
Publication date	28.02.2019
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.1296925
Repository	ZENODO

Integrated photonics enables continuous-beam electronphase modulation (data)

Author	Henke, Jan-Wilke; Raja, Arslan Sajid; Feist, Armin; Huang, Guanhao; Arend, Germaine; Yang, Yujia; Kappert, F. Jasmin; Wang, Rui Ning; Möller, Marcel; Pan, Jiahe; Liu, Junqiu; Kfir, Ofer; Ropers, Claus; Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Publication date	23.12.2021
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.5575752
Repository	ZENODO
Abstract

Abstract Integrated photonics facilitates extensive control over fundamental light-matter interactions in manifold quantum systems including atoms 1 , trapped ions 2,3 , quantum dots 4 and defect centres 5 . Ultrafast electron microscopy has recently made free-electron beams the subject of laser-based quantum manipulation and characterization 6-11 , enabling the observation of free-electron quantum walks 12-14 , attosecond electron pulses 10,15-17 and holographic electromagnetic imaging 18 . Chip-based photonics 19,20 promises unique applications in nanoscale quantum control and sensing but remains to be realized in electron microscopy. Here we merge integrated photonics with electron microscopy, demonstrating coherent phase modulation of a continuous electron beam using a silicon nitride microresonator. The high-finesse ( Q0 ≈ 10 6 ) cavity enhancement and a waveguide designed for phase matching lead to efficient electron-light scattering at extremely low, continuous-wave optical powers. Specifically, we fully deplete the initial electron state at a cavity-coupled power of only 5.35 microwatts and generate >500 electron energy sidebands for several milliwatts. Moreover, we probe unidirectional intracavity fields with microelectronvolt resolution in electron-energy-gain spectroscopy 21 . The fibre-coupled photonic structures feature single-optical-mode electron-light interaction with full control over the input and output light. This approach establishes a versatile and highly efficient framework for enhanced electron beam control in the context of laser phase plates 22 , beam modulators and continuous-wave attosecond pulse trains 23 , resonantly enhanced spectroscopy 24-26 and dielectric laser acceleration 19,20,27 . Our work introduces a universal platform for exploring free-electron quantum optics 28-31 , with potential future developments in strong coupling, local quantum probing and electron-photon entanglement.

Data for the article "Strained crystalline nanomechanical resonators with ultralow dissipation"

Author	Beccari, Alberto
Publication date	15.03.2021
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.4606602
Repository	ZENODO

Data and masks for publication "Thermal intermodulation noise in cavity-based measurements"

Author	Fedorov, Sergey A.; Beccari, Alberto; Arabmoheghi, Amirali; Wilson, Dalziel J.; Engelsen, Nils J.; Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Publication date	10.11.2020
Persistent Identifier (PID)	10.5281/zenodo.3747301
Repository	ZENODO

Active participation

Self-organised

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Title	Year

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

Cavity Quantum Optomechanics studies the interaction of light with micro- and nanomechanical oscillators and has emerged since its first inception about a decade ago into an active research field. Mechanical oscillators are already part of our modern information society and used in virtually all cellphones as filters, in watches as tuning forks and have been used for some of the most precise measurements of human mankind such as gravitational wave detectors. Yet, enabling quantum control of engineering, macroscopic mechanical oscillators represent a recent advance. While quantum control of atoms and ions has been established since the 1970s, and quantum electrical circuits have emerged in early 2000, the ability to extend quantum control to macroscopic mechanical oscillators is a new development that started about a decade ago within the field of cavity optomechanics. Today it is possible to explore quantum limits of displacement measurement in table top experiments, and to prepare mechanical oscillators in quantum states. Research in cavity quantum optomechanics has in particular been motivated by achieving and exploring the regime where quantum backaction is dominant. This has enabled in recent years many breakthroughs, including ponderomotive optical squeezing, entangling mechanical oscillators, squeezing of mechanical motion, entanglement of mechanical oscillators are using projective measurements to create Fock states of mechanical motion. Quantum optomechanics is poised not only to enable fundamental tests of quantum but also lead to new technologies, given that mechanical oscillators can interact with their environment in a controlled way. Indeed, the optomechanical interaction provides a new way in which technologically relevant functions can be implemented. For instance, it has provided entirely new ways to interconvert, measure or transduce RF fields. Recent work has for instance demonstrated the ability of optomechanical systems as converters between vastly different frequencies such as microwave and optical domain, as tools to measure radio fields optically, or as quantum limited amplifiers of microwave fields. Moreover, optomechanics has been used to create non-reciprocal devices such as isolators, and has been proposed moreover as uni-directional amplifiers.Yet, to date, accessing quantum effects is only possible in a handful of systems and generally compounded by thermal noise. Recent work, emanating from Copenhagen and EPFL has shown that dramatic improvements of mechanical coherence are possible when using the technique of soft clamping and strain engineering that can provide for the first time the opportunity to achieve exceptional coherent mechanical oscillators that are quantum coherent for many hundreds of oscillations at room temperature. Recent work from EPFL has demonstrated the highest Q factor mechanical oscillator at room temperature, of any shape, kind and material exceeding 1 billion for a MHz oscillator. Strikingly, largely untapped improvements are still possible when replacing the material used in these experiments (amorphous Si3N4) by crystalline materials that are expected to have significantly improved mechanical dissipation at low temperature. In this proposal, we seek to advance the field in several directions. First, and foremost, we will demonstrate for the first time a crystalline membrane with soft-clamping. While early attempts with III-V have been made, and failed, we explore a new route, that of strained silicon. Strained silicon is already commercially available in the form of sSOI wafer technology and widely used in RF micro-electronics. Yet to date, it has never been explored for mechanical oscillators. Focusing on large stress (GPa) sSOI wafers, we seek to demonstrate mechanical oscillators with exceptional coherence, and quality factor beyond 10 Billion at 10 Kelvin temperature - constituting a thermal decoherence on part with trapped ions. Second, we will develop cavity opto-nanomechanical systems from these newly emerged ultra coherent mechanical oscillators that preserve their properties and operate in a regime where quantum noise is dominant, even in a room temperature environment. This will require to couple such ultra-coherent mechanical oscillators, in the forms of nano-strings to photonic cavities, or in the case of membranes to ultra-short Fabry Perot cavities, made using micro-fabrication. This regime enables exploring a variety of experiments at room temperatures, notably room temperature ground state cooling, as well as quantum enhanced force sensing at room temperature. Taken together, our experiments will advance the coherence of optomechanical systems and provide a new framework to study quantum backaction Physics at room temperature, or cryogenic temperatures using ultra coherent electromechanical systems.