An off-board quantum point contact as a sensitive detector of cantilever motion

Abstract

Recent advances in the fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and their evolution into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have allowed researchers to measure extremely small forces, masses, and displacements. In particular, researchers have developed position transducers with resolution approaching the uncertainty limit set by quantum mechanics. The achievement of such resolution has implications not only for the detection of quantum behavior in mechanical systems, but also for a variety of other precision experiments including the bounding of deviations from Newtonian gravity at short distances and the measurement of single spins. Here we demonstrate the use of a quantum point contact (QPC) as a sensitive displacement detector capable of sensing the low-temperature thermal motion of a nearby micromechanical cantilever. Advantages of this approach include versatility due to its off-board design, compatibility with nanoscale oscillators, and, with further development, the potential to achieve quantum limited displacement detection.

5 pages, 5 figures

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• Current-induced atomic dynamics, instabilities, and Raman signals: Quasi-classical Langevin equation approach
• Ultrasensitive nano-optomechanical force sensor at dilution temperatures
• Detection of qubit-oscillator entanglement in nanoelectromechanical systems
• Scattering approach to backaction in coherent nanoelectromechanical systems
• Non-Markovian dynamics of a nanomechanical resonator measured by a quantum point contact
• Full counting statistics and conditional evolution in a nanoelectromechanical system
• Feedback cooling of cantilever motion using a quantum point contact transducer
• Improving the optomechanical entanglement and cooling by photothermal force
• Sensitivity of the mixing current technique to detect nano-mechanical motion
• A nanomechanical resonator coupled linearly via its momentum to a quantum point contact
• Optimal estimation of conjugate shifts in position and momentum by classically correlated probes and measurements
• GHz operation of a quantum point contact using stub impedance matching circuit