AVS 52nd International Symposium
    MEMS and NEMS Tuesday Sessions
       Session MN-TuM

Invited Paper MN-TuM5
Cooper-Pair Molasses - Cooling a Nanomechanical Resonator with the Quantum Noise of a Single Electron Transistor

Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 9:40 am, Room 207

Session: Micro and Nano Fabrication Techniques for MEMS & NEMS
Presenter: K.C. Schwab, National Security Agency
Correspondent: Click to Email

We are performing ultra-low temperature experiments with a radio-frequency, nanomechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting single electron transistor, a system which has demonstrated the closest approach to the uncertainty principle for continuous position detection, and the closest approach to the quantum ground state of a mechanical system.@footnote 1@ Recently, we have used the resonator to detect the asymmetric, quantum noise of the SET, which produces the back-action required by the uncertainty principle. In addition, have discovered an unexpected cooling mechanism, analogous to optical molasses, which is a result of resonant Josephson effects in the transistor: we have observed cooling of a 10 MHz, Q=230,000 mode from 500 mK to 100 mK. Using these techniques and devices, we are anticipating the observation of squeezed, superposition, and entangled states of a mechanical device. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@LaHaye, Buu, Camarota, Schwab, "Approaching the Quantum Limit of a Nanomechanical Resonator," Science 304, 74 (2004).