Three-Tone Coherent Microwave Electromechanical Measurement of a Superfluid Helmholtz Resonator

Abstract

We demonstrate electromechanical coupling between a superfluid mechanical mode and a microwave mode formed by a patterned microfluidic chip and a 3D cavity. The electric field of the chip-cavity microwave resonator can be used to both drive and detect the motion of a pure superflow Helmholtz mode, which is dictated by geometric confinement. The coupling is characterized using a coherent measurement technique developed for measuring weak couplings deep in the sideband unresolved regime. The technique is based on two-probe optomechanically induced transparency/amplification using amplitude modulation. Instead of measuring two probe tones separately, they are interfered to retain only a signal coherent with the mechanical motion. With this method, we measure a vacuum electromechanical coupling strength of $g_0=2\pi \times 23.3$ $\mu$Hz, three orders of magnitude larger than previous superfluid electromechanical experiments.

13 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. Lett., out for peer review, revtex