Theory of quantum optomechanical systems and quantum transport

在过去的五年里，在寻求理解和控制小型电子电路和小型光学系统中的量子力学效应方面取得了巨大的进展。这种效应可能会导致电子、信息处理以及我们检测和测量令人难以置信的微小信号的能力发生革命。这项研究计划的长期目标是在工程结构中发展对量子物理的全面理论理解，例如超导量子电路和所谓的“量子光学机械”系统，在这些系统中，光与机械自由度的运动(如振动纳米梁)耦合。我们的研究有望使我们能够阐明受驱动的耗散系统中常见的新的量子力学现象，并为当前和未来的实验提供关键的见解。它还将有助于为新的应用和新类型的“量子技术”铺平道路。在更具体的目标方面，我们将开发新的工具，以允许理解光和机械运动之间的相互作用很强的光学机械系统，即使只有一个光粒子(光子)存在。这种迷人的强耦合机制自然会导致与经典物理预测的行为截然不同的行为，甚至可能导致自然方法来制备高度非经典的运动和光状态(即在经典物理中没有简单对应的状态)。我们还将探索当量子电子电路由在这种非经典状态下制备的微波辐射驱动时出现的迷人的新效应。

The last five years has seen an immense amount of progress in the quest to understand and control quantum mechanical effects in small electronic circuits and small optical systems. Such effects could lead to revolutions in electronics, information processing, and in our ability to detect and measure incredibly small signals. The long term goals of this research proposal are to develop a full theoretical understanding of quantum physics in engineered structures such as superconducting quantum circuits and so-called "quantum optomechanical" systems, where light is coupled to motion of a mechanical degree of freedom (such as a vibrating nanobeam). Our research will hopefully allow us to elucidate new quantum mechanical phenomena generic to driven, dissipative systems, and provide crucial insights for current and future experiments. It will also help pave the way for new applications and new kinds of "quantum technologies". In terms of more specific goals, we will develop new tools to allow to understand optomechanical systems where the interaction between light and mechanical motion is strong even when there is just a single particle of light (photon) present. This fascinating strong-coupling regime naturally leads to behaviour very different than that predicted using classical physics, and could even lead to natural methods for preparing highly non-classical states of motion and of light (i.e. states that have no simple counterpart in classical physics). We will also explore fascinating new effects that arise when a quantum eletronic circuit is driven by microwave radiation prepared in such non-classical states.