Quantum States of OptoMechanical Structures

光机械结构的量子态

• 批准号: 0804177
• 负责人: Dirk Bouwmeester
• 金额: $ 60万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0804177&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Quantum; States; OptoMechanical; Structures

Quantum theory has been extremely successful in explaining many aspects of the world around us. Despite this achievement, fundamental aspects of the quantum theory are as mysterious as they were to the founders of the theory. Especially remarkable is the feature that a particle somehow obtains information about different "paths" it could have taken. This observation leads to the question of what would happen if such quantum effects could be observed in macroscopic objects. If the laws of quantum mechanics remain valid for large objects, one seems to be forced to accept that cats can be alive and dead at the same time (following Schroedinger's famous thought experiment). However, others question whether such a drastic conclusion is justified based on the current support for the theory. The fact is that all experiments to date that directly tested the quantum superposition of individual objects are restricted to photons, atoms, molecules and ensemble of electrons. Furthermore the quantum theory is faced with problems when trying to unify it with the theory of relativity. It is not possible either on theoretical or experimental grounds, therefore, to rule out the possibility that quantum mechanics does not apply to large objects. Optical technology has progressed to the level that it is conceivable to put a small mirror into a superposition of two quantum states. The experiment will be done with a particularly tiny mirror, smaller in diameter than a human hair but still about ten billion times more massive than any object previously brought into a quantum superposition. This award provides support for the mirror and cantilever fabrication as well as for designing a liquid-helium cooled apparatus and performing supporting theoretical work. Furthermore it provides travel support for establishing a close collaboration with international experts on sub-millikelvin systems. Testing quantum mechanics in this unexplored regime is first of all of fundamental importance. The optical control of micro-mechanical systems, in particular the application of optical cooling techniques, is however also expected to be of broad interest in metrology and could also be used for several different experiments such as generating squeezed light and resonance enhanced Casimir forces. This research program involves significant educational component, and the research is excellent for teaching fundamental properties of quantum mechanics and micro-mechanical systems and for training young researchers in state-of-the-art technologies in a multi-disciplinary and international environment.

量子理论在解释我们周围世界的许多方面都非常成功。尽管取得了这一成就，量子理论的基本方面仍然和理论创始人一样神秘。 特别值得注意的是，粒子以某种方式获得关于它可能采取的不同“路径”的信息。 这一观察引出了一个问题：如果这种量子效应可以在宏观物体中观察到，会发生什么？如果量子力学定律对大物体仍然有效，人们似乎不得不接受猫可以同时活着和死去（遵循薛定谔的著名思想实验）。然而，其他人质疑，根据目前对该理论的支持，这样一个激烈的结论是否合理。事实上，迄今为止，所有直接测试单个物体量子叠加的实验都仅限于光子、原子、分子和电子系综。此外，量子理论在试图将其与相对论统一起来时面临着问题。 因此，无论从理论上还是实验上，都不可能排除量子力学不适用于大物体的可能性。光学技术已经发展到可以想象将一个小镜子置于两个量子态的叠加态的水平。 实验将使用一个特别小的镜子，直径比人类头发丝还小，但仍然比以前任何进入量子叠加的物体大100亿倍。该奖项为反射镜和悬臂梁的制造以及液氦冷却装置的设计和理论工作提供了支持。此外，它还提供差旅支助，以便与国际专家就毫开尔文以下系统建立密切合作。在这个未探索的领域测试量子力学首先具有根本的重要性。 然而，微机械系统的光学控制，特别是光学冷却技术的应用，预计也将在计量学中引起广泛的兴趣，并且也可以用于几个不同的实验，例如产生压缩光和共振增强的卡西米尔力。该研究计划涉及重要的教育组成部分，该研究对于教授量子力学和微机械系统的基本特性以及在多学科和国际环境中培养年轻研究人员的最先进技术非常出色。