Detailed information

Tracy Northup
University of Innsbruck

Abstract

Can we prepare quantum-mechanical states of motion of macroscopic objects — for example, superposition states of massive objects where the distance scale of the superposition is as large as the object itself? Such states would allow us both to investigate fundamental questions about quantum mechanics and to build novel sensors and transducers. A levitated nanoparticle in ultra-high vacuum is a promising experimental system with which to investigate these questions.

I will present experimental work with silica nanoparticles in ion traps in which we aim to bring these particles into the quantum regime. Here, we adapt techniques originally developed for trapped atomic ions, including detection via self-interference and sympathetic cooling, for the domain of nanoparticles [1,2]. Quality factors above 10¹⁰ provide evidence of the particles' extreme isolation from their environment [3]. Recently, we have trapped a calcium ion and a nanoparticle together in a linear Paul trap [4], which provides a potential route to prepare the nanoparticle's motion in nonclassical states.

In these experiments, light is both an enabling tool and a source of decoherence. On one hand, optical interference allows us to detect a nanoparticle's position precisely. On the other hand, photon recoil and heating of the particle's internal temperature present challenges to reaching the quantum regime.

[1] L. Dania, K. Heidegger, D. S. Bykov, G. Cerchiari, G. Arenada, T. E. Northup, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 013601 (2022)

[2] D. S. Bykov, L. Dania, F. Goschin, T. E. Northup, Optica 10, 438 (2023)

[3] L. Dania, D. S. Bykov, F. Goschin, M. Teller, A. Kassid, T. E. Northup, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 133602 (2024)

[4] D. S. Bykov, L. Dania, F. Goschin, T. E. Northup, arXiv:2403.02034 (2024)

Biography

Tracy Northup is a professor of experimental physics at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her research explores quantum interfaces between light and matter, focusing on trapped-ion and cavity-based interfaces for quantum networks and quantum optomechanics. She received her PhD from the California Institute of Technology in 2008 and then held an appointment as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Innsbruck, where she was the recipient of a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship and an Elise Richter Fellowship. She became an assistant professor at the University of Innsbruck in 2015 and has been a full professor since 2017; she held an Ingeborg Hochmair Professorship from 2017 to 2022. In 2016, she received the START Prize, the highest Austrian award for young scientists, from the Austrian Science Fund. In 2023, she received Optica's Gordon Memorial Speakership.

Location

Leuchs-Russell Auditorium, A.1.500, Staudtstr. 2
Location details

Zoom Access

https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/69980909813?pwd=CvHjUiONw5c0J97Oh6trYYCnRsyndk.1
Meeting-ID: 699 8090 9813
Kenncode: 185386