Speaker: John Teifel, National Institute of Standards and Technology
In all cavity optomechanical systems, the coupling between the electromagnetic and mechanical modes is a crucial parameter for achieving arbitrary quantum states of mechanical resonators. Circuit optomechanics, the electromechanical analogue of optomechanics, uses the forces from the electric fields of microwave photons to provide this radiation-pressure coupling. In this talk, I will review the milestones in quantum optomechanics which have been achieved with such circuits, as well as experimental progress toward new regimes. Specifically, by increasing the cavity frequency from the microwave to the millimeter-wave band, we demonstrate dramatic improvement in both the vacuum and parametric coupling that is experimentally achievable. Ideally, this increased coupling will unlock full quantum control of a mechanical mode using only a few photons in the cavity.