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3:30 p.m.
in Room 307 of the Optical Sciences Meinel Building
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Speaker: |
Dan Stamper-Kurn
University of
California at Berkeley |
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Title: |
Quantum Cavity Opto-Mechanics with Cold Atoms: Measuring and
Controlling a Mechanical Oscillator with Light |
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Host: |
Poul Jessen |
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Abstract: |
In cavity opto-mechanical systems, the motion of
a mechanical element is sensed by its influence on the field
within an electromagnetic resonator.
While their experimental realizations are quite diverse,
with mechanical elements ranging from picogram-scale
nanofabricated metallic filament to the kilogram-scale mirrors
of the LIGO detector and optical systems ranging from
microfabricated stripline resonators to kilometers-long optical
cavities, such systems are converging on the common goal of
realizing quantum limited operation.
In this talk, I will discuss the use of ensembles of
ultracold trapped atoms, with atom numbers ranging presently
from 103 to 105, as mechanical elements within a high-finesse
optical cavity. With this
system, my colleagues and I realize cavity opto-mechanics in the
quantum regime, with opto-mechanical coupling parameters that
may be readily tuned and extended into a distinct granular, or
strong-coupling, regime.
We have also begun exploring cavity optical interactions with
internal quantum variables of these atoms (their spin), and the
possibilities arising from interfacing their motional and spin
degrees of freedom. |
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