Probing wave function collapse models with a classically driven mechanical oscillator

We show that the interaction of a pulsed laser light with a mechanical oscillator through the radiation pressure results in an opto-mechanical entangled state in which the photon number is correlated with the oscillator position. Interestingly, the mechanical oscillator can be delocalized over a lar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New journal of physics 2016-03, Vol.18 (3), p.33025
Main Authors: Ho, Melvyn, Lafont, Ambroise, Sangouard, Nicolas, Sekatski, Pavel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Entangled states
entanglement witness
Feasibility studies
gravitational collapse models
Helium
Mechanical oscillators
optomechanics
Physics
Pulsed lasers
Quantum entanglement
Radiation pressure
Wave functions
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Summary:We show that the interaction of a pulsed laser light with a mechanical oscillator through the radiation pressure results in an opto-mechanical entangled state in which the photon number is correlated with the oscillator position. Interestingly, the mechanical oscillator can be delocalized over a large range of positions when driven by an intense laser light. This provides a simple yet sensitive method to probe hypothetical post-quantum theories including an explicit wave function collapse model, like the Diosi & Penrose model. We propose an entanglement witness to reveal the quantum nature of this opto-mechanical state as well as an optical technique to record the decoherence of the mechanical oscillator. We also report on a detailed feasibility study giving the experimental challenges that need to be overcome in order to confirm or rule out predictions from explicit wave function collapse models.
ISSN:1367-2630
1367-2630
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/18/3/033025