Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 15: Optomechanics
Q 15.7: Talk
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12:45–13:00, HS 1015
Decoherence of dielectric rotors by thermal emission — •Jonas Schäfer1, Benjamin A. Stickler2, and Klaus Hornberger1 — 1Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen — 2Institute for Complex Quantum Systems, Ulm University
Levitated nanoparticles can be used for sensing applications and fundamental tests of quantum theory [1,2]. The center-of-mass motion has already been driven into the quantum ground state [1], while the full rotation dynamics are expected to enter the quantum regime soon [2,3,4,5]. This talk presents the master equation quantifying the impact of thermal emission on the ro-translational quantum state of an arbitrarily sized dielectric rigid rotor. It involves only the bulk permittivity, geometry, and temperature of the particle, and it accounts for internal photon scattering to all orders. We find the orientation state to decohere even for spheres in the point-particle limit, which can be understood a consequence of the vector character of the thermally driven polarization currents.
[1] Gonzalez-Ballestero, Aspelmeyer, Novotny, Quidant, and Romero-Isart, Science 374, eabg3027 (2021)
[2] Stickler, Hornberger, and Kim, Nat. Rev. Phys. 3, 589-597 (2021)
[3] Schäfer, Rudolph, Hornberger, and Stickler, PRL 126, 163603 (2021)
[4] Pontin, Fu, Toroš, Monteiro, and Barker, Nat. Phys. 19, 1003-1008 (2023)
[5] Kamba, Shimizu, and Aikawa, arXiv:2303.02831 (2023)
Keywords: Optomechanics; Rotations; Decoherence; Macroscopic Quantum Electrodynamics; Markovian master equation