An international team of physicists from Russia and Germany have successfully applied a theory from 2009 to cool a relatively large macroscopic mirror (1.2 millimeters across) with lower fundamental frequency (~136 kHz) from room temperature to 126 mK.
The team applied a novel use of quantum noise, which usually contributes to temperature raise. But destructive interference of noise on its path to the mirror prevented its heating while allowing for energy loss, thereby creating a stronger cooling effect.
Applications
- Development of stable optical springs that would increase the sensitivity of current gravitational wave detectors. This is what the research team is aiming for next.
- Large quantum mechanical oscillators to study the quantum properties of macroscopic objects
- To create components for quantum computers
Expert Speak
Aashish Clerk, of McGill University, who was one of the original proponents of the theory in 2009, says, This is the first experimental system where you have the special kind of dissipative opto-mechanical coupling that can let you do something truly new.
Read full research at Physical Review Letters
Read full news at Physics World
