Brillouin Quantum Optomechanics

布里渊量子光力学

• 批准号: MR/X024105/1
• 负责人: Michael Vanner
• 金额: $ 75.32万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FX024105%2F1
• 关键词: Brillouin; Quantum; Optomechanics

Quantum mechanics is one of our most powerful theories of nature and describes much of our world with incredible accuracy. Our knowledge and understanding of quantum mechanics has given us great insight into the fundamental workings of the universe and also enabled humanity to develop paradigm-shifting technologies such as the laser and the electronic chips that now drive computers and smartphones. This fellowship aims to deepen our understanding and control of quantum mechanics by utilizing lasers to generate quantum states of sound. To pursue this goal, laser light and sound waves will be confined inside a microfabricated device in what's called a "whispering gallery mode". This type of wave propagation was first understood by Lord Rayleigh in 1878 following his observations in St Paul's cathedral of whispers making their way around the inner wall of the dome. Then, by cryogenically cooling the device to near absolute zero in temperature and using single photons of light, Dr Vanner and the members of his team will prepare such high-frequency sound waves in a quantum state. Such states may be used to experimentally implement a sound-based version of the infamous "Schrodinger's cat" thought experiment, and the techniques and new knowledge generated within this project provide significant potential to develop powerful new quantum-physics-enhanced technologies for the information-processing applications of the future.

量子力学是我们最强大的自然理论之一，以令人难以置信的准确性描述了我们世界的大部分。我们对量子力学的知识和理解使我们对宇宙的基本运作有了深刻的了解，也使人类能够开发出改变范式的技术，如激光和现在驱动计算机和智能手机的电子芯片。该奖学金旨在通过利用激光产生声音的量子态来加深我们对量子力学的理解和控制。为了实现这一目标，激光和声波将被限制在一个被称为“回音壁模式”的微制造设备内。1878年，瑞利勋爵（Lord Rayleigh）在圣保罗大教堂（St Paul's Cathedral）观察到圆顶内壁周围的耳语后，首次了解了这种波的传播。然后，通过将设备低温冷却到接近绝对零度的温度并使用单光子，Vanner博士和他的团队成员将在量子状态下制备这种高频声波。这种状态可能被用来实验性地实现臭名昭著的“薛定谔的猫”思想实验的基于声音的版本，并且该项目中产生的技术和新知识为未来的信息处理应用开发强大的新量子物理增强技术提供了巨大的潜力。