2015/07/31 by J. -M. Pirkkalainen, E. Damskägg, M. Brandt +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.115.243601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 243601 (2015) · Physical Review Letters (accepted for publication, 2015)
arxiv created 2015/10/14 · arxiv updated 2015/12/16
A pair of conjugate observables, such as the quadrature amplitudes of harmonic motion, have fundamental fluctuations which are bound by the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. However, in a squeezed quantum state, fluctuations of a quantity can be reduced below the standard quantum limit, at the cost of increased fluctuations of the conjugate variable. Here we prepare a nearly macroscopic moving body, realized as a micromechanical resonator, in a squeezed quantum state. We obtain squeezing of one quadrature amplitude 1.1 ± 0.4 dB below the standard quantum limit, thus achieving a long-standing goal of obtaining motional squeezing in a macroscopic object.