Probing wave function collapse models with a classically driven mechanical oscillator

DOI10.1088/1367-2630/18/3/033025MaRDI QIDQ5854993zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Melvyn Ho, Ambroise Lafont, Nicolas Sangouard, Pavel Sekatski

Publication date 12 March 2021

Published in New Journal of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1504.00790

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Open systems, reduced dynamics, master equations, decoherence (81S22) Gravitational interaction in quantum theory (81V17)

Abstract: We show that the interaction of a pulsed laser light with a mechanical oscillator through the radiation pressure results in an opto-mechanical entangled state in which the photon number is correlated with the oscillator position. Interestingly, the mechanical oscillator can be delocalized over a large range of positions when driven by an intense laser light. This provides a simple yet sensitive method to probe hypothetic post-quantum theories including an explicit wave function collapse model, like the Diosi and Penrose model. We propose an entanglement witness to reveal the quantum nature of this opto-mechanical state as well as an optical technique to record the decoherence of the mechanical oscillator. We also report on a detailed feasibility study giving the experimental challenges that need to be overcome to confirm or rule out predictions from explicit wave function collapse models.

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Cites work

• Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical
• On gravity's role in quantum state reduction
• Unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems

Cited in

(2)

• Wavefunction collapse through backaction of counting weakly interacting photons
• Opto-mechanical test of collapse models

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