Quantum-state preparation and macroscopic entanglement in gravitational-wave detectors

Abstract

Long-baseline laser-interferometer gravitational-wave (GW) detectors are operating at a factor of ~10 (in amplitude) above the standard quantum limit (SQL) within a broad frequency band (in the sense that Δf~f). Such a low-noise budget has already allowed the creation of a controlled 2.7 kg macroscopic oscillator with an effective eigenfrequency of 150 Hz and an occupation number of ~200. This result, along with the prospect for further improvements, heralds the possibility of experimentally probing macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM)—quantum mechanical behavior of objects in the realm of everyday experience—using GW detectors. In this paper, we provide the mathematical foundation for the first step of a MQM experiment: the preparation of a macroscopic test mass into a nearly minimum-Heisenberg-limited Gaussian quantum state, which is possible if the interferometer's classical noise beats the SQL in a broad frequency band. Our formalism, based on Wiener filtering, allows a straightforward conversion from the noise budget of a laser interferometer, in terms of noise spectra, into the strategy for quantum-state preparation and the quality of the prepared state. Using this formalism, we consider how Gaussian entanglement can be built among two macroscopic test masses and the performance of the planned Advanced LIGO interferometers in quantum-state preparation.

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