Abstract

We detect the motion of a suspended micro- and nano- mechanical elements, whose fundamental mode of motion has been cooled to within a few 10s of quanta of the ground-state using an ultra-low temperature cryostat. Additional microwave radiation pressure further cools the element towards the motional ground state. The same microwave tone that is used to cool the motion is also used infer the motion. In order to resolve motion on the scale of the quantum zero-point motion we use a nearly shot noise limited interferometric measurement of that microwave tone.

© 2010 Optical Society of America