"Exploiting Mechanical Properties of Light: Photon-Supported Micromechanical Resonators, Quantum Vibrations, and Applications"

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The central goal of my research program is to develop new types of sensitive micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) controlled by photons. I am particularly interested in realizing MEMS supported primarily by optical forces, thereby replacing traditional mechanical materials with light. Such devices should overcome the limitations of current MEMS materials and achieve an unprecedented level of mechanical coherence (e.g. ringing at 500 kHz for weeks when struck). As a result, they should be capable of achieving sub-zeptonewton force sensitivity, detecting the mass of a single proton, and exhibiting coherent quantum motion. The program initially comprises three major goals. The first is to realize optically-supported MEMS by applying strong optical traps to specially-fabricated mechanical elements, such that their dynamics are completely dominated by optical forces. The performance of these devices should surpass that of the best existing MEMS, and the trapping techniques will also enable fundamental studies of dissipation in traditional mechanical materials. The second goal is to develop compact, fibre optical microcavities in order to reduce the size of these systems and significantly enhance the photon-MEMS coupling. The resulting devices will allow us to access a substantially larger space of optomechanical parameters using a less cumbersome, fibre-based package. The third goal is to cryogenically cool these systems, suppressing thermal fluctuations sufficiently to observe highly coherent quantum effects in the the motion of solid mechanical elements. This cryogenic environment will also enable significantly more sensitive force and mass detection in the future. In the longer term, I envision using these optically-controlled MEMS to construct new types of scanned force detectors and photonic devices (potentially operating at the quantum limit), as well as to shuttle quantum information between qubits (either directly or remotely via photons in a fibre). This Discovery Grant will fund the core operating costs of the entire research program over the next five years.