Event Details

Condensed Matter webinar

Mechanical resonators based on carbon nanotubes feature a series of truly exceptional properties. In particular, the mechanical vibrations are highly sensitive to the tiny forces associated with the electron states in the nanotube and vice versa, leading to large backaction effects. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to cool the amplitude of the thermal vibrations to a few quanta. Cooling is achieved using a simple yet powerful method, which consists in applying a constant (DC) current of electrons through the suspended nanotube in a dilution fridge. I will also present results where we strongly couple mechanical vibrations to the two electron states involved in single-electron tunnelling (SET). It renormalizes the resonance frequency by a large amount, up to 25 % of its value. This results in a highly nonlinear potential for mechanical vibrations despite the relatively low quanta population (about 80 quanta). I will finish the presentation by explaining our effort towards the realization of a mechanical qubit.

If someone from outside of the Condensed Matter Physics group would like to join the webinar, please send a request to m.thompson@lancaster.ac.uk