Physics & Astronomy Jack Harris - Yale University

"Quantum effects in the motion of a millimeter-scale object"

In 1909 Albert Einstein showed that the form of the Planck blackbody
spectrum implies that the radiation pressure exerted on a macroscopic
solid object is comprised of small (but not infinitesimal) kicks. Since
then, the notion of radiation pressure exerted by individual photons has
played an important role in developing our understanding of quantum
measurements. Recently, advances in optical and mechanical
instrumentation have highlighted the possibility of using the quantum
aspects of radiation pressure to detect quantum features in the motion
of macroscopic objects. In this talk I will describe our group's work in
this area, and will focus on recent measurements of the quantum motion
of a 40 nanogram oscillator that has been laser cooled nearly to its
ground state.