Quantum amplification of motion of a mechanical oscillator

Published

June 21, 2019

Author(s)

Shaun C. Burd, Raghavendra Srinivas, John J. Bollinger, Andrew C. Wilson, David J. Wineland, Dietrich G. Leibfried, Daniel H. Slichter, David T. Allcock

Abstract

Detection of the weakest forces in nature and the search for new physics demand increasingly sensitive measurements of the motion of mechanical oscillators. However, the attainable knowledge of an oscillator’s motion is limited by quantum fluctuations that exist even if the oscillator is in its lowest possible energy state. Here we demonstrate a widely applicable technique for amplifying coherent displacements of a mechanical oscillator with magnitudes well below these zero-point fluctuations. The method involves applying two orthogonal “squeezing” interactions before and after a small displacement, resulting in an amplified coherent state, ideally with no added quantum noise. We implement this protocol with a trapped-ion mechanical oscillator and measure metrological enhancements of up to 17.5(2) dB.

Citation

Science

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw2884

Keywords

Quantum metrology, squeezing, trapped ion

Citation

Burd, S. , Srinivas, R. , Bollinger, J. , Wilson, A. , Wineland, D. , Leibfried, D. , Slichter, D. and Allcock, D. (2019), Quantum amplification of motion of a mechanical oscillator, Science, [online], https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw2884 (Accessed October 13, 2025)