01525nas a2200145 4500008004100000245007500041210006900116260001500185520106700200100001801267700002001285700001901305700001901324856003601343 2016 eng d00aObservation of Optomechanical Quantum Correlations at Room Temperature0 aObservation of Optomechanical Quantum Correlations at Room Tempe c2016/05/183 a
By shining laser light through a nanomechanical beam, we measure the beam's thermally driven vibrations and perturb its motion with optical forces at a level dictated by the Heisenberg measurement-disturbance uncertainty relation. Such quantum backaction is typically difficult to observe at room temperature where the motion driven by optical quantum intensity fluctuations is many orders of magnitude smaller than the thermal motion. We demonstrate a cross-correlation technique to distinguish optically driven motion from thermally driven motion, observing this quantum backaction signature up to room temperature. While it is often difficult to absolutely calibrate optical detection, we use the scale of the quantum correlations, which is determined by fundamental constants, to gauge the size of thermal motion, demonstrating a path towards absolute thermometry with quantum mechanically calibrated ticks.
1 aPurdy, T., P.1 aGrutter, K., E.1 aSrinivasan, K.1 aTaylor, J., M. uhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1605.05664