Quantum Brownian motion of a particle from Casimir-Polder interactions

Journal Article · 13 March 2020 · Physical Review A

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.101.032507 · OSTI ID:1604490

Sinha, Kanupriya  ^[1]; Subaşı, Yiğit  ^[2]

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1. Army Research Lab., Adelphi, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

We study the fluctuation-induced dissipative dynamics of the quantized center-of-mass motion of a polarizable dielectric particle trapped near a surface. The particle's center of mass is treated as an open quantum system coupled to the electromagnetic field acting as its environment, with the resulting system dynamics described by a quantum Brownian motion master equation. The dissipation and decoherence of the particle's center of mass are characterized by the modified spectral density of the electromagnetic field that depends on surface losses and the strength of the classical trap field. Our results are relevant to experiments with levitated dielectric particles near surfaces, illustrating potential ways of mitigating fluctuation-induced decoherence while preparing such systems in macroscopic quantum states.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1604490
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1634962
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-19-28997; PLRAAN; TRN: US2201321
• Journal Information: Physical Review A, Vol. 101, Issue 3; ISSN 2469-9926
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English