Mechanical Systems Approaching the Quantum Regime
Dartmouth College Department of Physics and Astronomy
Date, Time, and Place: Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 from 3:45-4:45 pm in 1106 ME.
We give an overview of progress towards demonstrating quantum behavior in macroscopic mechanical systems. We will begin with a survey of recent related experiments carried out by several groups within the gravity wave, quantum optics, and solid state communities involving cooling mechanical resonators with masses ranging from one ton down to 10-15 kg towards their quantum ground states. We then describe a recently proposed solid state scheme to generate and detect macroscopic mechanical superposition states as well as probe their decoherence, and finish with a discussion of possible mechanisms of damping and decoherence in mechanical resonators when cooled close to their ground states.
Miles Blencowe received his B.Sc. (1986) and Ph.D. (1989) degrees in theoretical physics at Imperial College. He subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Cambridge (1989-1991), the University of Chicago (1991-1993), and the University of British Columbia (1993-1994). Following a senior research associate position at Imperial College (1994-1999), he moved to Dartmouth College where he is currently an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. His research interests lie in the areas of mesoscopic physics, quantum information theory applied to solid-state systems, and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
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