Ultra-coherent nanomechanical resonators based on inverse design
arXiv:2103.15601 · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26102-4
Abstract
Engineered micro- and nanomechanical resonators with ultra-low dissipation constitute the ideal systems for applications ranging from high-precision sensing such as magnetic resonance force microscopy, to quantum transduction between disparate quantum systems. Traditionally, the improvement of the resonator's performance - often quantified by its Qf product (where Q is quality factor and f is frequency) - through nanomechanical engineering such as dissipation dilution and strain engineering, has been driven by human intuition and insight. Such an approach is inefficient and leaves aside a plethora of unexplored mechanical designs that potentially achieve better performance. Here, we use a computer-aided inverse design approach known as topology optimization to structurally design mechanical resonators with optimal performance of the fundamental mechanical mode. Using the outcomes of this approach, we fabricate and characterize ultra-coherent nanomechanical resonators with record-high Qf products, entering a quantum coherent regime where coherent oscillations are observed at room temperature. Further refinements to the model describing the mechanical system are likely to improve the Qf product even more. The proposed approach - which can be also used to improve phononic crystal and coupled-mode resonators - opens up a new paradigm for designing ultra-coherent micro- and nanomechanical resonators for cutting-edge technology, enabling e.g. novel experiments in fundamental physics (e.g. search for dark matter and quantum nature of gravity) and extreme sensing of magnetic fields, electric fields and mass with unprecedented sensitivities at room temperature.
References in corpus (19)
- Cavity Optomechanics
- Quantum-coherent coupling of a mechanical oscillator to an optical cavity mode
- A Spin Entanglement Witness for Quantum Gravity
- Gravitationally-induced entanglement between two massive particles is sufficient evidence of quantum effects in gravity
- Measurement-based quantum control of mechanical motion
- Ultra-coherent nanomechanical resonators via soft clamping and dissipation dilution
- A single NV defect coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator
- Mechanical Resonators for Quantum Optomechanics Experiments at Room Temperature
- Damping of Nanomechanical Resonators
- High quality mechanical and optical properties of commercial silicon nitride membranes
- Ultralow-Noise SiN Trampoline Resonators for Sensing and Optomechanics
- Control of Material Damping in High-Q Membrane Microresonators
- Maximizing the quality factor to mode volume ratio for ultra-small photonic crystal cavities
- Hierarchical tensile structures with ultralow mechanical dissipation
- Searching for vector dark matter with an optomechanical accelerometer
- Spin detection with a micromechanical trampoline: Towards magnetic resonance microscopy harnessing cavity optomechanics
- Fractal-like mechanical resonators with soft-clamped fundamental mode
- Clamp-tapering increases the quality factor of stressed nanobeams
- Control of Recoil Losses in Nanomechanical SiN Membrane Resonators