Markus Aspelmeyer
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, University of Vienna, Austria
Date
31 October 2007
Talk title
Schrödinger’s Mirrors: Quantum Experiments with Micro-Mechanical Systems
Abstract
The quantum regime of mechanical systems offers fascinating new possibilities for both applied and fundamental physics. Quantum optics provides a well-developed tool box to help entering and controlling this regime. I will highlight recent advances in this fast-emerging field of quantum-optomechanics, in particular the latest experiments on laser-cooling of micromirrors that promise cooling capabilities to the mechanical quantum ground state. I will also discuss the prospects and challenges to generate (opto-mechanical) quantum entanglement, which is an important resource for quantum information processing and is also at the heart of Schrödinger’s “cat paradox“.