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Observing and evading quantum back-action on a kilogram-scale oscillator

Begüm Kabagöz E. Oelker Dhruva Ganapathy N. Mavalvala V. Sudhir V. Bossilkov J. Betzweiser V. Frolov A. Effler A. Mullavey L. Barsotti Evan D. Hall P. Fritschel R. Abbott I. Abouelfettouh R. Adhikari A. Ananyeva S. Appert S. Apple K. Arai N. Aritomi S. Aston M. Ball S. Ballmer D. Barker B. Berger D. Bhattacharjee G. Billingsley S. Biscans C. Blair N. Bode E. Bonilla A. Branch A. Brooks D. Brown J. Bryant C. Cahillane A. Calafat S. Callos H. Cao E. Capote F. Clara J. Collins C. Compton G. Connolly R. Cottingham D. Coyne R. Crouch J. Csizmazia A. Cumming L. Dartez D. Davis N. Demos E. Dohmen K. Dooley J. Driggers S. Dwyer A. Ejlli T. Etzel M. Evans J. Feicht R. Frey W. Frischhertz M. Fuentes-Garcia P. Fulda M. Fyffe B. Gateley T. Gayer J. A. Giaime K. Giardina J. Glanzer E. Goetz R. Goetz A. Goodwin-Jones S. Gras C. Gray D. Griffith H. Grote T. Guidry J. Gurs J. Hanks J. Hanson M. Heintze A. Helmling-Cornell N. A. Holland D. Hoyland H.-Y. Huang Y. Inoue A. L. James A. Jamies R. Jaume A. Jennings W. Jia D. H. Jones S. Karat S. Karki M. Kasprzack K. Kawabe N. Kijbunchoo P. King J. Kissel K. Komori A. Kontos R. Kumar K. Kuns M. Landry B. Lantz M. Laxen K. Lee M. Lesovsky F. Villarreal M. Lormand H. Loughlin R. Macas M. Macinnis C. Makarem B. Mannix G. Mansell R. Martin K. Mason F. Matichard N. Maxwell G. McCarrol R. McCarthy D. McClelland S. McCormick T. McRae F. Mera E. Merilh J. Mérou F. Meylahn R. Mittleman D. Moraru G. Moreno M. Nakano T. Nelson A. Neunzert J. Notte J. Oberling T. O’Hanlon R. Oram C. Osthelder D. Ottaway H. Overmier W. Parker O. Patane A. Pele H. Pham M. Pirello J. Pullin V. Quetschke K. Ramirez K. Ransom J. Reyes J. Richardson M. Robinson J. Rollins C. Romel J. Romie M. Ross B. I. Rotimi K. Ryan T. Sadecki A. Sanchez E. Sanchez L. Sanchez R. Savage D. Schaetzl M. Schiworski R. Schnabel R. Schofield E. Schwartz D. Sellers T. Shaffer R. W. Short D. Sigg B. Slagmolen C. Soike S. Soni V. Srivastava L. Sun D. Tanner M. Thomas P. Thomas K. Thorne M. Todd C. Torrie G. Traylor A. Ubhi G. Vajente J. Vanosky A. Vecchio P. Veitch A. Vibhute E. V. von Reis J. Warner B. Weaver R. Weiss C. Whittle B. Willke C. Wipf J. Wright V. Xu H. Yamamoto L. Zhang M. Zucker

Sep 2026 · 0 citations · 4 references

Physics

Abstract

Continuous quantum displacement measurements are fundamentally limited by a trade-off between readout imprecision and measurement back-action, constrained by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), these two quantum noise components dominate much of the observation band, making it an excellent testbed. We induce a sub-Hz-linewidth optomechanical mode by trapping the differential motion of the 40-kg mirrors in a band where radiation-pressure back-action dominates the motion. Engineering the quantum state entering the dark port creates correlations between imprecision and back-action that partially cancel their contributions, reducing observed motion near resonance by ~47%. A framework resolving the imprecision, back-action, and correlation terms identifies the origin of this suppression. These results demonstrate quantum back-action evasion and quantum reservoir engineering in a macroscopic optomechanical system.

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