%0 Journal Article %J Physical Review Letters %D 2011 %T Laser cooling and optical detection of excitations in a LC electrical circuit %A J. M. Taylor %A A. S. Sørensen %A C. M. Marcus %A E. S. Polzik %X We explore a method for laser cooling and optical detection of excitations in a LC electrical circuit. Our approach uses a nanomechanical oscillator as a transducer between optical and electronic excitations. An experimentally feasible system with the oscillator capacitively coupled to the LC and at the same time interacting with light via an optomechanical force is shown to provide strong electro-mechanical coupling. Conditions for improved sensitivity and quantum limited readout of electrical signals with such an "optical loud speaker" are outlined. %B Physical Review Letters %V 107 %8 2011/12/27 %G eng %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.2035v1 %N 27 %! Phys. Rev. Lett. %R 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.273601