Levitated Electro-Optomechanics with Charged Nanoparticles

• Applicant: Dr. Benjamin Stickler
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2018 to 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 411042854

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

The goal of this project was to develop the theoretical basis for future quantum experiments with electrically levitated charged nanoparticles. This was accomplished within three objectives: (i) We demonstrated how resistive cooling can bring the centre-of-mass and rotational motion of a charged nanoscale object to the temperature of a connected circuit. We numerically simulated the cooling dynamics and investigated how this approach can be used to cool objects whose absorption cross-section is too large for established optical techniques. (ii) We have devised and proposed an experimentally feasible protocol for quantum interference of electrically levitated nanoparticles. Since such an experiment can be performed with a single levitated particle, it is an attractive alternative to existing proposals for superposition experiments with nanoparticles. (iii) We derived Markovian quantum master equations to describe charge-induced decoherence due to induced mirror charges and currents. Applications of such master equations go far beyond levitated optomechanics, since residual charges and their inhomogeneous distribution are unavoidable in quantum technologies involving micromechanical systems and trapped ions.

Publications

• Levitated electromechanics: all-electrical cooling of charged nano- and micro-particles. Quantum Science and Technology, 4(2), 024003.
  Goldwater, Daniel; Stickler, Benjamin A.; Martinetz, Lukas; Northup, Tracy E.; Hornberger, Klaus & Millen, James
  
• Quantum electromechanics with levitated nanoparticles. npj Quantum Information, 6(1).
  Martinetz, Lukas; Hornberger, Klaus; Millen, James; Kim, M. S. & Stickler, Benjamin A.
  
• Electric trapping and circuit cooling of charged nanorotors. New Journal of Physics, 23(9), 093001.
  Martinetz, Lukas; Hornberger, Klaus & Stickler, Benjamin A.
  
• Surface-Induced Decoherence and Heating of Charged Particles. PRX Quantum, 3(3).
  Martinetz, Lukas; Hornberger, Klaus & Stickler, Benjamin A.
  
• Quantum electromechanics with levitated charged particles PhD Thesis, University of Duisburg-Essen (2023)
  Lukas Martinetz