Ultranarrow-linewidth levitated nano-oscillator for testing dissipative wave-function collapse

Year: 2020

Authors: Pontin A., Bullier N.P., Toros M., Barker P.F.

Autors Affiliation: UCL, Dept Phys & Astron, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT, England.

Abstract: Levitated nano-oscillators are promising platforms for testing fundamental physics and quantum mechanics in a new high mass regime. Levitation allows extreme isolation from the environment, reducing the decoherence processes that are crucial for these sensitive experiments. A fundamental property of any oscillator is its linewidth and mechanical quality factor Q. Narrow linewidths in the microhertz regime and mechanical Q’s as high as 10(12) have been predicted for levitated systems. The insufficient long-term stability of these oscillators has prevented direct measurement in high vacuum. Here we report on the measurement of an ultranarrow linewidth levitated nano-oscillator, whose width of 81 +/- 23 mu Hz is only limited by residual gas pressure at high vacuum despite residual variations of the trapping potential. This narrow linewidth allows us to put new experimental bounds on dissipative models of wave-function collapse including continuous spontaneous localization and Diosi-Penrose and illustrates its utility for future precision experiments that aim to test the macroscopic limits of quantum mechanics.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW RESEARCH

Volume: 2 (2)      Pages from: 23349-1  to: 23349-10

More Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the EPSRC Grant No. EP/N031105/1 and the H2020-EU.1.2.1 TEQ project Grant agreement ID: 766900. A.P. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement ID: 749709 a N.P.B. acknowledges funding from the EPSRC Grant No. EP/L015242/1.
KeyWords: Continuous Spontaneous Localization; Quantum; Reduction; Dynamics; Bounds
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.023349