Preparation and Decay of a Single Quantum of Vibration at Ambient Conditions
At a Glance
Section titled âAt a Glanceâ| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2019-10-07 |
| Journal | Physical Review X |
| Authors | Santiago Tarrago-Velez, Kilian Seibold, Nils Kipfer, Mitchell D. Anderson, Vivishek Sudhir |
| Institutions | Department of Physics, Mathematics and Informatics, Ăcole Polytechnique FĂ©dĂ©rale de Lausanne |
| Citations | 26 |
Abstract
Section titled âAbstractâA single quantum of excitation of a mechanical oscillator is a textbook\nexample of the principles of quantum physics. Mechanical oscillators, despite\ntheir pervasive presence in nature and modern technology, do not generically\nexist in an excited Fock state. In the past few years, careful isolation of\nGHz-frequency nano-scale oscillators has allowed experimenters to prepare such\nstates at milli-Kelvin temperatures. These developments illustrate the tension\nbetween the basic predictions of quantum mechanics that should apply to all\nmechanical oscillators existing even at ambient conditions, and the complex\nexperiments in extreme conditions required to observe those predictions. We\nresolve the tension by creating a single Fock state of a vibration mode of a\ncrystal at room temperature using a technique that can be applied to any\nRaman-active system. After exciting a bulk diamond with a femtosecond laser\npulse and detecting a Stokes-shifted photon, the 40~THz Raman-active internal\nvibrational mode is prepared in the Fock state $|1>$ with $98.5\%$ probability.\nThe vibrational state is read out by a subsequent pulse, which when subjected\nto a Hanbury-Brown-Twiss intensity correlation measurement reveals the\nsub-Poisson number statistics of the vibrational mode. By controlling the delay\nbetween the two pulses we are able to witness the decay of the vibrational Fock\nstate over its $3.9$ ps lifetime at room temperature. Our technique is agnostic\nto specific selection rules, and should thus be applicable to any Raman-active\nmedium, opening a new generic approach to the experimental study of quantum\neffects related to vibrational degrees of freedom in molecules and solid-state\nsystems.\n
Tech Support
Section titled âTech SupportâOriginal Source
Section titled âOriginal SourceâReferences
Section titled âReferencesâ- 1995 - Principles of Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy