Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics

By I. Pikovski, M. Vanner, Markus Aspelmeyer, Myungshik S. Kim, Č. Brukner. Nature Physics, 2011

520 citations recorded by the source corpus.

One of the main challenges in physics today is to merge quantum theory and the theory of general relativity into a unified framework. Researchers are developing various approaches towards such a theory of quantum gravity, but a major hindrance is the lack of experimental evidence of quantum gravitational effects. Yet, the quantization of spacetime itself can have experimental implications: the existence of a minimal length scale is widely expected to result in a modification of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. Here we introduce a scheme to experimentally test this conjecture by probing directly the canonical commutation relation of the centre-of-mass mode of a mechanical oscillator with a mass close to the Planck mass. Our protocol uses quantum optical control and readout of the mechanical system to probe possible deviations from the quantum commutation relation even at the Planck scale. We show that the scheme is within reach of current technology. It thus opens a feasible route for table-top experiments to explore possible quantum gravitational phenomena. Commutation relations define the limit to which two complementary properties can be simultaneously known—Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Yet it is thought that these canonical relations might be different in the quantum gravity regime. Researchers now show how quantum-optics experiments might provide a direct route for studying these effects.

Subfields: Artificial Intelligence, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f1c3f6e8f58859142f92d0e5f61f11e134ad125f

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Citations in the corpus

Continuous mode cooling and phonon routers for phononic quantum networks (2012, background): “Beyond new possibilities to address fundamental questions in quantum physics [17, 18, 19, 20], these experimental developments also provide the foundation for new, phonon-based quantum technologies.”
Generalized Uncertainty Principle: Approaches and Applications (2014, background): “Recently, the Planck scale itself turns to be accessible in quantum optics [73].”