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Single-Phonon Addition and Subtraction to a Mechanical Thermal State.
G Enzian1,2,3, J J Price1,2,4, L Freisem1,2
1QOLS, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom.
Physical Review Letters
|February 5, 2021
Summary
Adding or subtracting a single quantum of excitation to a thermal state of a bosonic system approximately doubles its mean occupation. This study demonstrates this effect in mechanical oscillators using Brillouin optomechanics, observing a doubling of thermal fluctuations.
Area of Science:
- Quantum physics
- Optomechanics
- Condensed matter physics
Background:
- Bosonic systems exhibit counter-intuitive behavior when single quanta of excitation are added or removed from thermal states.
- Optomechanics provides a platform for studying quantum phenomena in macroscopic mechanical systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally demonstrate the doubling of mean occupation in a thermal state of a mechanical oscillator outside the optical domain.
- To investigate single-phonon addition and subtraction in a mechanical system using Brillouin optomechanics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Brillouin optomechanics in an optical whispering-gallery microresonator.
- Implemented a joint click-dyne detection scheme combining single-photon counting and optical heterodyne detection.
- Performed single-phonon addition and subtraction on a thermal state of a mechanical oscillator.
Main Results:
- Observed a high-precision doubling of mechanical thermal fluctuations.
- Successfully demonstrated the predicted counter-intuitive effect in a mechanical system.
- Validated the efficacy of the joint click-dyne detection scheme for optomechanical quantum science.
Conclusions:
- The experimental demonstration confirms the quantum effect of excitation addition/subtraction on thermal states in mechanical oscillators.
- The developed detection scheme offers new capabilities for quantum optomechanics research and applications.
- This work expands the study of quantum phenomena in mechanical systems beyond traditional optical domains.
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