Quantum Optomechanics: From Fundamental Tests to Quantum Tools of the Future

量子光力学：从基础测试到未来的量子工具

• 批准号: 2012088
• 负责人: Nergis Mavalvala
• 金额: $ 78万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2012088&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Quantum; Optomechanics; Fundamental; Tests; Tools

This award supports research in relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. Quantum mechanics was invented to study the behavior of physical systems at the atomic scale. In the past century, understanding the quantum foundations of nature has led to fundamental understanding of the subatomic world, as well as a rich landscape of quantum-enabled technologies, from lasers to magnetic resonance imaging to nanomedicine. The proposed work builds on advances in nanotechnology and precision measurement to push the frontier of both understanding the fundamental nature of the universes, as well as development of quantum sensing technologies for precision measurement. By using the radiation pressure force from intense laser beams to push on mirrors, the exquisite quantum properties of the light can be imprinted onto the mechanical motion of the mirrors. The light itself, in turn, is used to read out the position of the mirror. This light-mirror coupling can be used to generate interesting and practically useful quantum states, provided the thermally driven motion of the mirror is small enough.The proposed work couples laser light to a novel custom-designed macroscopic mirror that has low thermal noise. One goal of the proposed work is to optically trap and cool a macroscopic mirror. This would allow scientists to ask the intriguing question: is there a size scale on which quantum mechanics no longer works? Even though quantum mechanics usually applies to the microscopic world, why would nature have a special size scale? A second, more practical, goal is to use the light-mirror interactions to create an exotic quantum state of light called a "squeezed state.” Squeezed states of light are used to increase the precision of optical measurements, such as the laser interferometry used by LIGO to detect gravitational waves. Squeezed states generated using light-mirror coupling could be well-suited for improving the sensitivity of future gravitational-wave detectors. A notable feature of the proposed work is that it is carried out at room temperature, without the substantial infrastructure and cost of cryogenic cooling, making these devices better suited for enhancing the sensitivity of quantum sensors in a wide range of applications from gravitational-wave detection to quantum information technologies. This work is inherently cross-disciplinary, combining the techniques and formalism of quantum optics, optomechanics, and quantum measurement science with gravitational-wave detection. It therefore advances multiple fields, training personnel with a broad range of skills that prepares them to be part of a technical workforce with quantum expertise, which is increasingly sought after in academia, the government and the private sector.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，并解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大构想的优先领域。发明量子力学是为了在原子尺度上研究物理系统的行为。在过去的一个世纪里，对自然界量子基础的理解导致了对亚原子世界的基本理解，以及从激光到磁共振成像再到纳米医学等量子技术的丰富景观。提议的工作建立在纳米技术和精确测量的进步基础上，以推动对宇宙基本性质的理解，以及用于精确测量的量子传感技术的发展。通过使用来自强激光束的辐射压力来推动镜子，光的精细量子特性可以烙印在镜子的机械运动上。光本身，反过来，被用来读出镜子的位置。如果镜子的热驱动运动足够小，这种光镜耦合可以用来产生有趣的和实际有用的量子态。提出的工作耦合激光到一个新的定制设计的宏观反射镜，具有低热噪声。提出的工作的一个目标是光学捕获和冷却宏观镜子。这将使科学家们提出一个有趣的问题：是否存在一个量子力学不再适用的尺度？即使量子力学通常适用于微观世界，为什么自然界会有一个特殊的尺寸尺度呢？第二个更实际的目标是利用光-镜相互作用来创造一种奇异的光量子态，称为“压缩态”。光的压缩状态被用来提高光学测量的精度，比如LIGO用来探测引力波的激光干涉测量法。利用光镜耦合产生的压缩态可以很好地用于提高未来引力波探测器的灵敏度。这项工作的一个显著特点是它是在室温下进行的，没有大量的基础设施和低温冷却的成本，这使得这些设备更适合在从引力波探测到量子信息技术的广泛应用中提高量子传感器的灵敏度。这项工作本质上是跨学科的，结合了量子光学、光力学和量子测量科学与引力波探测的技术和形式。因此，它推动了多个领域的发展，培训具有广泛技能的人员，使他们成为具有量子专业知识的技术劳动力的一部分，这在学术界，政府和私营部门越来越受到追捧。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。