Narrowing the Parameter Space of Collapse Models with Ultracold Layered Force Sensors.

Despite the unquestionable empirical success of quantum theory, witnessed by the recent uprising of quantum technologies, the debate on how to reconcile the theory with the macroscopic classical world is still open. Spontaneous collapse models are one of the few testable solutions so far proposed. In particular, the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model has become subject of intense experimental research. Experiments looking for the universal force noise predicted by CSL in ultrasensitive mechanical resonators have recently set the strongest unambiguous bounds on CSL. Further improving these experiments by direct reduction of mechanical noise is technically challenging. Here, we implement a recently proposed alternative strategy that aims at enhancing the CSL noise by exploiting a multilayer test mass attached on a high quality factor microcantilever. The test mass is specifically designed to enhance the effect of CSL noise at the characteristic length r_{c}=10^{-7} m. The measurements are in good agreement with pure thermal motion for temperatures down to 100 mK. From the absence of excess noise, we infer a new bound on the collapse rate at the characteristic length r_{c}=10^{-7} m, which improves over previous mechanical experiments by more than 1 order of magnitude. Our results explicitly challenge a well-motivated region of the CSL parameter space proposed by Adler.

Improved Noninterferometric Test of Collapse Models Using Ultracold Cantilevers.

Spontaneous collapse models predict that a weak force noise acts on any mechanical system, as a consequence of the collapse of the wave function. Significant upper limits on the collapse rate have been recently inferred from precision mechanical experiments, such as ultracold cantilevers and the space mission LISA Pathfinder. Here, we report new results from an experiment based on a high-Q cantilever cooled to millikelvin temperatures, which is potentially able to improve the current bounds on the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model by 1 order of magnitude. High accuracy measurements of the cantilever thermal fluctuations reveal a nonthermal force noise of unknown origin. This excess noise is compatible with the CSL heating predicted by Adler. Several physical mechanisms able to explain the observed noise have been ruled out.

Upper Bounds on Spontaneous Wave-Function Collapse Models Using Millikelvin-Cooled Nanocantilevers.

Collapse models predict a tiny violation of energy conservation, as a consequence of the spontaneous collapse of the wave function. This property allows us to set experimental bounds on their parameters. We consider an ultrasoft magnetically tipped nanocantilever cooled to millikelvin temperature. The thermal noise of the cantilever fundamental mode has been accurately estimated in the range 0.03-1 K, and any other excess noise is found to be negligible within the experimental uncertainty. From the measured data and the cantilever geometry, we estimate the upper bound on the continuous spontaneous localization collapse rate in a wide range of the correlation length r_{C}. Our upper bound improves significantly previous constraints for r_{C}>10^{-6} m, and partially excludes the enhanced collapse rate suggested by Adler. We discuss future improvements.

Superconducting quantum interference device microsusceptometer balanced over a wide bandwidth for nuclear magnetic resonance applications.

Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) microsusceptometers have been widely used to study magnetic properties of materials at microscale. As intrinsically balanced devices, they could also be exploited for direct SQUID-detection of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) from micron sized samples, or for SQUID readout of mechanically detected NMR from submicron sized samples. Here, we demonstrate a double balancing technique that enables achievement of very low residual imbalance of a SQUID microsusceptometer over a wide bandwidth. In particular, we can generate ac magnetic fields within the SQUID loop as large as 1 mT, for frequencies ranging from dc up to a few MHz. As an application, we demonstrate direct detection of NMR from (1)H spins in a glycerol droplet placed directly on top of the 20 µm SQUID loops.

Feedback-enhanced parametric squeezing of mechanical motion.

We present a single-quadrature feedback scheme able to overcome the conventional 3 dB limit on parametric squeezing. The method is experimentally demonstrated in a micromechanical system based on a cantilever with a magnetic tip. The cantilever is detected at low temperature by a SQUID susceptometer, while parametric pumping is obtained by modulating the magnetic field gradient at twice the cantilever frequency. A maximum squeezing of 11.5 dB and 11.3 dB is observed, respectively, in the response to a sinusoidal test signal and in the thermomechanical noise. So far, the maximum squeezing factor is limited only by the maximum achievable parametric modulation. The proposed technique might be used to squeeze one quadrature of a mechanical resonator below the quantum noise level, even without the need for a quantum limited detector.

Magnetic resonance force microscopy of paramagnetic electron spins at millikelvin temperatures.

Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is a powerful technique to detect a small number of spins that relies on force detection by an ultrasoft magnetically tipped cantilever and selective magnetic resonance manipulation of the spins. MRFM would greatly benefit from ultralow temperature operation, because of lower thermomechanical noise and increased thermal spin polarization. Here we demonstrate MRFM operation at temperatures as low as 30 mK, thanks to a recently developed superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-based cantilever detection technique, which avoids cantilever overheating. In our experiment, we detect dangling bond paramagnetic centres on a silicon surface down to millikelvin temperatures. Fluctuations of such defects are supposedly linked to 1/f magnetic noise and decoherence in SQUIDs, as well as in several superconducting and single spin qubits. We find evidence that spin diffusion has a key role in the low-temperature spin dynamics.

Nonequilibrium steady-state fluctuations in actively cooled resonators.

We analyze heat and work fluctuations in the gravitational wave detector AURIGA, modeled as a macroscopic electromechanical oscillator in contact with a thermostat and cooled by an active feedback system. The oscillator is driven to a steady state by the feedback cooling, equivalent to a viscous force. The experimentally measured fluctuations are in agreement with our theoretical analysis based on a stochastically driven Langevin system. The asymmetry of the fluctuations of the absorbed heat characterizes the oscillator's nonequilibrium steady state and reveals the extent to which a feedback cooled system departs from equilibrium in a statistical mechanics perspective.

Feedback cooling of the normal modes of a massive electromechanical system to submillikelvin temperature.

We apply a feedback cooling technique to simultaneously cool the three electromechanical normal modes of the ton-scale resonant-bar gravitational wave detector AURIGA. The measuring system is based on a dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) amplifier, and the feedback cooling is applied electronically to the input circuit of the SQUID. Starting from a bath temperature of 4.2 K, we achieve a minimum temperature of 0.17 mK for the coolest normal mode. The same technique, implemented in a dedicated experiment at subkelvin bath temperature and with a quantum limited SQUID, could allow to approach the quantum ground state of a kilogram-scale mechanical resonator.

Upper limits on gravitational-wave emission in association with the 27 Dec 2004 giant flare of SGR1806-20.

At the time when the giant flare of SGR1806-20 occurred, the AURIGA "bar" gravitational-wave (GW) detector was on the air with a noise performance close to stationary Gaussian. This allows us to set relevant upper limits, at a number of frequencies in the vicinities of 900 Hz, on the amplitude of the damped GW wave trains, which, according to current models, could have been emitted, due to the excitation of normal modes of the star associated with the peak in x-ray luminosity.