Gravimetry through non-

linear optomechanics
Sofia Qvarfort
in collaboration with Alessio Serafini, Peter F. Barker, and Sougato Bose
University College London
Gravity in the Quantum Lab, Benasque 2018
arXiv: 1706.09131
Contents
Part I – Introduction
• Motivation
• Gravimetry systems
Part II – The system
• Dynamics
• Quantum metrology and Fisher information
Part III – Results
• Measurement sensitivity
• Optimality of homodyne detection
• Comparison of gravimeter systems
Summary and outlook
2
Part I – Motivation
Part II – The system
Part III – Results

3
 Motivation

GRACE gravity map of the Earth, (B. Tapley et al., NASA) 4

 Motivation

Iess, Luciano, et al. "Measurement of Jupiter’s asymmetric gravity field." Nature 555.7695 (2018): 220. 5
Motivation

6
 Motivation

7
Anastopoulos, Charis, and Bei-Lok Hu. "Probing a gravitational cat state." Classical and Quantum
Classical gravimetry
LaCoste FG5-X:
• Measure drop speed of a
corner-cube mirror, read out
fringes.
• Sensitivity of 10−9 m𝑠 −2 (from
their website).
 Quantum gravimeters
Cold atom interferometry
• Sensitivity: 5 × 10−9 ms −2

9
Z-K Hu et al. 2013, PRA
 Quantum gravimeters
On-chip BEC
• Sensitivity: 1.3 × 10−4 ms −2
• Projected sensitivity:
10−7 ms −2

10
S. Abend et al. 2016, PRL
 Quantum gravimeters
Magnetomechanics
• Predicted sensitivity: 2.2 ×
10−7 ms −2

11
M. T. Johnsson et al. 2016, Sci. Rep
Part I – Motivation
Part II – The system
Part III – Results

12
 Quantum optomechanics

13
Aspelmeyer, Markus, Tobias J. Kippenberg, and Florian Marquardt. "Cavity optomechanics." Reviews
Quantum optomechanics

14
 15

Quantum optomechanics

15
Bose, S., et al. PRA 56.5 (1997): 4175.
Gravimetry with optomechanics

Define dimensionless couplings:

System dynamics
Start from a coherent state,

18
System dynamics
Start from a coherent state,

Derive the full state evolution,

where

19
Properties of the system
• Light and mechanics entangle and disentangle:

20
Properties of the system
• Light and mechanics entangle and disentangle.
• After one cycle, at 𝑡 = 2𝜋 all information about 𝑔 has been
transferred into the phase of the state,

21
Properties of the system
• Light and mechanics entangle and disentangle.
• After one cycle, at 𝑡 = 2𝜋 all information about 𝑔 has been
transferred into the phase of the state.
• The sensitivity is impervious to initial thermal noise.

22
Cavity field quadratures

23
Quantum metrology and Fisher information
Definition (Fisher Information): Given a parameter , the Fisher
Information tells us how much information a measurement of
gives us about .

24
Quantum metrology and Fisher information
Definition (Fisher Information): Given a parameter , the Fisher
Information tells us how much information a measurement of
gives us about .

The Cramér-Rao inequality relates the Fisher information to the

variance of a parameter:

where is the number of measurements.

25
Classical Fisher information
The classical Fisher Information is defined as

where and is a set of POVM elements.

26
Quantum Fisher information
The quantum Fisher information (QFI) is defined for an
optimisation over all possible POVMs:

where is the symmetric logarithmic derivative.

27
Quantum Fisher information
The quantum Fisher information (QFI) is defined for an
optimisation over all possible POVMs:

where is the symmetric logarithmic derivative.

For pure states, we can simplify the expression to get

28
Part I – Motivation
Part II – The system
Part III – Results

29
Results
Quantum Fisher information at

where
• is the rescaled single-photon coupling constant,
• is the mass of the oscillator,
• is the number of photons
• is the angle of inclination of the cavity
• is the mechanical oscillation frequency

30
Quantum Fisher information
QFI for measurements of 𝑔
The full behaviour of the 2

quantum Fisher information, 2

using parameters, 2

31
Homodyne detection
Goal: Measure the quadrature operator,

Procedure:
• Split a laser with a beamsplitter.
• Let part of it interact with the system.
• Mix the beams at the output and take the
difference of the detected intensities.
Classical Fisher information
Classical Fisher information for a homodyne measurement:

where

33
Is homodyne detection optimal?
Assuming that are integers, we can simplify the CFI and write

which can also be written as

34
Is homodyne detection optimal?
Compare the CFI with the QFI:

35
Homodyne Fisher information
Classical Fisher Information with
Position measurement Momentum measurement

36
Optomechanical systems
Three optomechanical systems:

• Fabry-Perot mirror-cavity with

• Levitated nanosphere with

• Trapped cold atoms with

Optomechanical systems
Parameters Fabry-Perot Levitated Cold atoms
𝜔𝐶 (Hz) 1014 1014 1014
𝜔𝑚 (Hz) 103 102 102
𝑚 (kg) 10−6 10−14 10−25 × 105
𝐿 (m) 10−5 - -
𝑃 (Cm2V-1) - 2.37 × 10−29 -
𝑉𝐶 (m3) - 10−14 -
𝑘𝑙 (m-1) - 5.91 × 106 108
𝑔0 (Hz) - - 107
Δ𝑐𝑎 (Hz) - - 1011
𝑘ത 2.30 1.96 × 103 2.30 × 106
 Comparison of gravimetry systems
Comparison of gravimeter systems
System Δ𝑔 ms −2 𝑔/ Hz (ms −2 Hz −1/2 ) Cycle time
Experimental results
LaCoste FG5-X [1] 1 × 10−9 10−9 6.25 h
Atom interferometry [2] 5 × 10−9 4.2 × 10−8 1s
On-chip BEC [3] 1.3 × 10−4 1.3 × 10−2 15 s
Theoretical results
Magnetomechanics [4] 2.2 × 10−7 2.2 × 10−9 10−4 s
Mirror-cavity 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟓 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟔 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 s
Levitated nano-sphere 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟓 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟔 𝟏𝟎−𝟐 𝐬
Trapped cold atoms 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟏 𝟏𝟎−𝟐 𝒔

[1] LaCost Website, [2] Z-K Hu et al. APL, 2013, [3] S. Abend et al. PRL, 2016, [4] F. M.T. Johnsson Sci. Rep. 2016 39
Experimental challenges
• Fisher information scales with
Experimental challenges
• Fisher information scales with
• But since we measure at , increasing also means
that the photon dissipation rate must be kept down.
Experimental challenges
• Fisher information scales with
• But since we measure at , increasing also means
that the photon dissipation rate must be kept down.
• From numerics, we require , the resolved
sideband.
Experimental challenges
• Fisher information scales with
• But since we measure at , increasing also means
that the photon dissipation rate must be kept down.
• From numerics, we require , the resolved
sideband.
• Possible example system: Fabry-Perot cavity with Hz
(Y. Zhao et al. Op. Exp. 2009)
• Choosing Hz and assuming 10% is retained yields
Summary
We saw that
• Optomechanical systems can, in principle, achieve the same
sensitivity as atom interferometry
• Cooling to the ground-state is not required
• Homodyne measurements are optimal

44
Outlook
Gravimetry continued
• Measurements of higher-order gravitational effects, such as the gravity
gradient
• Other gravity-related applications of optomecahnical systems
Other interests:
• Gravitational entanglement in the continuous variable framework
• Mathematical methods for non-linear quantum systems

45
 Thank you!

Paper reference: 1706.09131

46