Quantum control and entanglement of nanomechanical oscillators
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The quantum behavior of macroscopic objects is not readily apparent in our everyday experience, although the governing equations are present nevertheless. Towards studying this regime, solid-state mechanical objects provide a promising testbed, but quantum control of acoustic devices has been a significant experimental challenge to date. Here, we describe efforts to build a hybrid quantum device composed of nanomechanical resonators coupled to a superconducting qubit. In this device, the mechanical resonators consist of phononic crystals made from thin-film lithium niobate, enabling both acoustic confinement and strong piezoelectric coupling. By using the qubit to control and measure these resonators, we can access nonclassical states of motion, find new ways to process quantum information, and study the quantum nature of sound. In this thesis, we present a series of experiments illustrating the capabilities of this quantum acoustics platform. First, we successfully demonstrate strong dispersive coupling between the qubit and nanomechanical resonator, allowing resolution of phonon number states. This result represents the first direct observation of the quantization of sound in a mechanical oscillator's energy levels. Next, we characterize superconducting, acoustic, and two-level system loss channels in the phononic crystal devices, with the goal of achieving coherence times that exceed conventional planar superconducting circuits. Finally, we build a small-scale quantum acoustic processor that not only achieves control at the single-phonon level, but also performs non-demolition measurements to probe the quantum states of motion. By extending these techniques to two nanomechanical resonators simultaneously, we deterministically synthesize mechanical Bell-states and characterize the resulting quantum entanglement between macroscopic objects. Ultimately, this demonstration provides a hardware-efficient approach towards scaling today's quantum computers.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Wollack, Edward Alexander |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Safavi-Naeini, Amir H |
| Thesis advisor | Safavi-Naeini, Amir H |
| Thesis advisor | Fejer, Martin M. (Martin Michael) |
| Thesis advisor | Feldman, Ben (Benjamin Ezekiel) |
| Thesis advisor | Irwin, Kent |
| Degree committee member | Fejer, Martin M. (Martin Michael) |
| Degree committee member | Feldman, Ben (Benjamin Ezekiel) |
| Degree committee member | Irwin, Kent |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Edward Alexander Wollack. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/mn697qq5667 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Edward Alexander Wollack
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...