Approaching the motional ground state of a 10-kg object.
Chris WhittleEvan D HallSheila DwyerNergis MavalvalaVivishek SudhirR AbbottA AnanyevaC AustinL BarsottiJ BetzwieserC D BlairA F BrooksD D BrownA BuikemaC CahillaneJ C DriggersA EfflerMolly M StevensP FritschelV V FrolovT HardwickM KasprzackK KawabeN KijbunchooJ S KisselG L MansellF MatichardL McCullerT McRaeA MullaveyA PeleR M S SchofieldD SiggM TseGabriele VajenteD C Vander-HydeHang YuHaocun YuC AdamsR X AdhikariS AppertK AraiJ S AreedaY AsaliS M AstonA M BaerM BallS W BallmerS BanagiriD BarkerJ BartlettB K BergerD BhattacharjeeGariLynn BillingsleyS BiscansR M BlairN BodeP BookerR BorkA BramleyK C CannonX ChenA A CiobanuF ClaraC M ComptonS J CooperK R CorleyS T CountrymanP B CovasD C CoyneL E H DatrierD DavisC Di FronzoK L DooleyP DupejT EtzelM EvansT M EvansJ FeichtP FuldaM FyffeJ A GiaimeK D GiardinaP GodwinE GoetzS GrasC GrayR GrayA C GreenE K GustafsonR GustafsonJ HanksJ HansonR K HasskewM C HeintzeA F Helmling-CornellN A HollandJ D JonesS KandhasamyS KarkiP J KingRahul KumarM LandryB B LaneB LantzM LaxenY K LecoeucheJ LevitonJ LiuM LormandA P LundgrenR MacasM MacInnisD M MacleodS MárkaZ MárkaDenis MartynovK MasonT J MassingerR McCarthyD E McClellandS McCormickJ McIverG MendellK MerfeldE L MerilhF MeylahnT MistryR MittlemanG MorenoConor M Mow-LowryS MozzonT J N NelsonP NguyenL K NuttallJ OberlingRichard J OramC OsthelderDavid J OttawayH OvermierJ R PalamosW ParkerE PayneR PenhorwoodC J PerezM PirelloH RadkinsK E RamirezJ W RichardsonK RilesN A RobertsonJ G RollinsC L RomelJ H RomieM P RossK RyanT SadeckiE J SanchezL E SanchezT R SaravananR L SavageD SchaetzR SchnabelEyal SchwartzD SellersT ShafferB J J SlagmolenJ R SmithS SoniB SorazuA P SpencerK A StrainL SunM J SzczepańczykM ThomasP ThomasK A ThorneK TolandC I TorrieG TraylorA L UrbanG ValdesP J VeitchK VenkateswaraGautam VenugopalanA D VietsT VoC VorvickM WadeR L WardJ WarnerB WeaverR WeissB WillkeC C WipfL XiaoH YamamotoL ZhangM E ZuckerJ ZweizigPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2021)
The motion of a mechanical object, even a human-sized object, should be governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. Coaxing them into a quantum state is, however, difficult because the thermal environment masks any quantum signature of the object's motion. The thermal environment also masks the effects of proposed modifications of quantum mechanics at large mass scales. We prepared the center-of-mass motion of a 10-kilogram mechanical oscillator in a state with an average phonon occupation of 10.8. The reduction in temperature, from room temperature to 77 nanokelvin, is commensurate with an 11 orders-of-magnitude suppression of quantum back-action by feedback and a 13 orders-of-magnitude increase in the mass of an object prepared close to its motional ground state. Our approach will enable the possibility of probing gravity on massive quantum systems.