title: QUANTUM MECHANICS. Quantum squeezing of motion in a mechanical resonator.
abstract: According to quantum mechanics, a harmonic oscillator can never be completely at rest. Even in the ground state, its position will always have fluctuations, called the zero-point motion. Although the zero-point fluctuations are unavoidable, they can be manipulated. Using microwave frequency radiation pressure, we have manipulated the thermal fluctuations of a micrometer-scale mechanical resonator to produce a stationary quadrature-squeezed state with a minimum variance of 0.80 times that of the ground state. We also performed phase-sensitive, back-action evading measurements of a thermal state squeezed to 1.09 times the zero-point level. Our results are relevant to the quantum engineering of states of matter at large length scales, the study of decoherence of large quantum systems, and for the realization of ultrasensitive sensing of force and motion.
authors: Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: E E
authors: EE
authors: Wollman
authors: Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: C U
authors: CU
authors: Lei
authors: Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Weinstein
authors: Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon 305-340, Republic of Korea.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Suh
authors: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 7, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Kronwald
authors: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 7, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Günther-Scharowsky-Straße 1/Bau 24, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Marquardt
authors: Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T8, Canada.
authors: A A
authors: AA
authors: Clerk
authors: Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. schwab@caltech.edu.
authors: K C
authors: KC
authors: Schwab