Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon 305-340, Republic of Korea.
Science. 2015 Aug 28;349(6251):952-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aac5138.
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.
根据量子力学，谐振子不可能完全静止。即使在基态，其位置也会始终存在波动，称为零点运动。虽然零点波动不可避免，但可以进行操控。我们使用微波频率辐射压力，成功地对一个微米级机械谐振器的热涨落进行了操控，产生了一个定态正交压缩态，其最小方差为基态的 0.80 倍。我们还对压缩到零点水平 1.09 倍的热态进行了相敏、反作用规避测量。我们的研究结果与大尺度物质态的量子工程、大量子系统的退相干研究，以及力和运动的超高灵敏度传感的实现相关。
