Events Calendar

EE-Electrophysics Seminar

Speaker: John Teufel, NIST Boulder

Talk Title: Quantum Microwave Optomechanical Circuits

Abstract: While mechanical oscillators are the basis for ultrasensitive detection of force, mass and displacement, only recently are these systems poised to encounter the limits and possibilities afforded by quantum mechanics. Accessing the full quantum nature of a macroscopic mechanical oscillator first requires elimination of its classical, thermal motion. The flourishing field of cavity optomechanics provides a nearly ideal architecture for both preparation and detection of mechanical motion at the quantum level. We realize a microwave cavity optomechanical system by coupling the motion of an aluminum membrane to the resonance frequency of a superconducting circuit [1]. By exciting the microwave circuit below its resonance frequency, we damp and cool the membrane motion with radiation pressure forces, analogous to laser cooling of the motion of trapped ions. The microwave excitation serves not only to cool, but also to monitor the displacement of the membrane. A nearly quantum-limited, Josephson parametric amplifier is used to detect the mechanical sidebands of this microwave excitation and quantify the thermal motion as it is cooled with radiation pressure forces to its quantum ground state [2].
[1] Teufel, J. D. et al. ìCircuit cavity electromechanics in the strong-coupling regime,î Nature 471, 204ñ208 (2011).
[2] Teufel, J. D. et al. ìSideband cooling micromechanical motion to the quantum ground state,î Nature 475, 359ñ363 (2011).


Biography: Dr. John Teufel completed his Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in the group of Robert Schoelkopf while developing superconducting photon detectors. He then joined Konrad Lehnertís group at JILA as a postdoctoral researcher, where he investigated nanomechanical resonators by coupling them to superconducting microwave circuits. He is currently a research affiliate in the quantum devices group at NIST Boulder, where he continues to use cryogenic microwave circuits to explore the quantum properties of mechanical systems.

Host: EE-Electrophysics

More Info: ee.usc.edu/news

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news