New hardware shows a way to develop delicate quantum technologies

By bringing the benefits of mechanical devices into the quantum realm, Stanford researchers aim to create advanced computing and sensing devices.

BY ADAM HADHAZY

Stanford University researchers have developed a key experimental device for future quantum physics-based technologies that borrows a page from current, everyday mechanical devices. Researchers have sought to bring the benefits of mechanical systems down into the extremely small scales of the mysterious quantum realm, where atoms delicately interact and behave in counterintuitive ways. Toward this end, Stanford researchers led by Amir Safavi-Naeini have demonstrated new capabilities by coupling tiny nanomechanical oscillators with a type of circuit that can store and process energy in the form of a qubit, or quantum “bit” of information. Using the device’s qubit, the researchers can manipulate the quantum state of mechanical oscillators, generating the kinds of quantum mechanical effects that could someday empower advanced computing and ultraprecise sensing systems.

“With this device, we’ve shown an important next step in trying to build quantum computers and other useful quantum devices based on mechanical systems,” said Safavi-Naeini, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences. Safavi-Naeini is senior author of a new study published April 20 in the journal Nature describing the findings. “We’re in essence looking to build ‘mechanical quantum mechanical’ systems,” he said.

(Image credit: Agnetta Cleland)