Published July 2009 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

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

Creators

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.

Additional Information

© 2009 Institute of Physics. Received 20 February 2009; published 16 July 2009.

Attached Files

Published - Abbott2009p5529New_J_Phys.pdf

Files

Abbott2009p5529New_J_Phys.pdf

Files (2.6 MB)

Name Size
md5:d902a156818b9c7cebb6180a856e12e7
2.6 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
16006
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20090923-115151991

Funding

NSF
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Max-Planck-Society
State of Niedersachsen/Germany
Australian Research Council
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India)
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (MEC)
Conselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes Balears
Scottish Funding Council
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
NASA
Carnegie Trust
Leverhulme Trust
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Research Corporation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Dates

Created
2009-09-25
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-08
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata