Observation of Radiation Pressure Shot Noise on a Macroscopic Object

作者：Thomas Purdy, R. W. Peterson, C. A. Regal · 发表于：Science · 年份：2013 · DOI：10.1126/science.1231282 · 被引用次数：406 · 研究领域：Mechanical and Optical Resonators、Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies、Carbon Nanotubes in Composites

The quantum mechanics of position measurement of a macroscopic object is typically inaccessible because of strong coupling to the environment and classical noise. In this work, we monitor a mechanical resonator subject to an increasingly strong continuous position measurement and observe a quantum mechanical back-action force that rises in accordance with the Heisenberg uncertainty limit. For our optically based position measurements, the back-action takes the form of a fluctuating radiation pressure from the Poisson-distributed photons in the coherent measurement field, termed radiation pressure shot noise. We demonstrate a back-action force that is comparable in magnitude to the thermal forces in our system. Additionally, we observe a temporal correlation between fluctuations in the radiation force and in the position of the resonator.