Ström-Olsen Lecture

Quantum Squeezing of Motion

Keith Schwab

Caltech

The quantum description of reality requires that the position of a mechanical resonator must fluctuate, a result of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. We have performed experiments with micron scale mechanical resonators where we have measured these quantum fluctuations and then using a technique developed by Aash Clerk and coworkers, we have manipulated the fluctuations so that for moments in time, the fluctuations are 4 db less than then quantum zero-point value, realizing a quadrature squeezed state of motion. I will go on to describe new experiments with superfluid helium to explore quantized motion at gram scales.