Observation of a kilogram-scale oscillator near its quantum ground state

Abbott, B. and Abbott, R. and Adhikari, R. and Ajith, P. and Allen, B. and Allen, G. and Amin, R. and Anderson, S.B. and Lockerbie, N.A. and Tokmakov, K. V., LIGO Scientific Collaboration (2009) Observation of a kilogram-scale oscillator near its quantum ground state. New Journal of Physics, 11 (7). 073032. ISSN 1367-2630 (https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/11/7/073032)

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Abstract

We introduce a novel cooling technique capable of approaching the quantum ground state of a kilogram-scale system-an interferometric gravitational wave detector. The detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) operate within a factor of 10 of the standard quantum limit (SQL), providing a displacement sensitivity of 10−18 m in a 100 Hz band centered on 150 Hz. With a new feedback strategy, we dynamically shift the resonant frequency of a 2.7 kg pendulum mode to lie within this optimal band, where its effective temperature falls as low as 1.4 μK, and its occupation number reaches about 200 quanta. This work shows how the exquisite sensitivity necessary to detect gravitational waves can be made available to probe the validity of quantum mechanics on an enormous mass scale.

ORCID iDs

Abbott, B., Abbott, R., Adhikari, R., Ajith, P., Allen, B., Allen, G., Amin, R., Anderson, S.B., Lockerbie, N.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1678-3260 and Tokmakov, K. V. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2808-6593;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:16930
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    16 July 2009
    Published
    Notes:B Abbott et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 073032
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Strathprints Administrator
    Date deposited:15 Apr 2010 13:55
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 09:26
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/16930
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