A tiny bead of glass floating in a laser beam can be used to squeeze light into a state that defies classical physics.
This experiment used two levitated nanoparticles that were cooled down until they reached their quantum ground state. By controlling these macroscopic objects, the researchers were able to generate non-classical squeezed light. This type of light has less noise than is normally allowed by the laws of physics. It bridges the gap between large, visible objects and the strange world of quantum optics. This technology could lead to incredibly precise sensors for detecting gravity or motion.
Optical squeezing mediated by levitated oscillators at their quantum ground state
arXiv · 2604.26790
We demonstrate optical squeezing below the shot-noise level generated through the interaction of an optical cavity field with two center-of-mass modes of a levitated nanoparticle, simultaneously cooled to occupation numbers well below unity. By analyzing the quadrature fluctuations of the cavity output through heterodyne detection, we resolve the full spectral covariance matrix of the optical field and map regions of sub-shot-noise squeezing as a function of detection phase and frequency. Operat