This research aims to identify and explore the promise and limitations of using emerging quantum platforms as precise detectors of various astrophysical phenomena such as continuous gravitational waves and scalar dark matter. Controllable, yet fragile quantum systems can be perturbed significantly by weak forces, thus operating as detectors of tiny forces. Both gravitational waves from distant neutron stars or dark matter in our solar neighborhood would produce weak forces due to stretching and squeezing objects by distances much smaller than the size of the atomic nucleus. This research will study the possibility of detecting these forces by studying their action on state-of-the-art quantum devices. It will also investigate the technical and fundamental limitations on using various quantum objects to detect weak forces.
Both of the relativistic phenomena mentioned above produce tidal forces when acting on extended solid objects. Such forces will be resonantly amplified and can possibly be detected in optomechanical setups, for instance. Along with exploring the viability of various detection schemes with respect to technical and fundamental quantum noise, this program will also explore quantum measurement and feedback-based sensing improvements. This research spans a wide range of experimental systems: superfluid helium acoustic devices, micron sized SiN membranes, and photonic crystal cavities. This theoretical work consists of a combined analytical and computational approach along with strong collaborations with both particle theorists and quantum experimentalists. This project is jointly funded by the Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Program, by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and by the Condensed Matter and Materials Theory Program in the Division of Materials Research.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
