August 2021 – The paper Vectorial polaritons in the quantum motion of a levitated nanosphere by A. Ranfagni et al. has been published on Nature Physics.
The Project
QuaSeRT is a research project that receives funding from the QuantERA ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies implemented within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme. The duration of the project is 3 years from March 2018. UPDATE: In response to the COVID-19 impact on research activities, the QuantERA Consortium has decided to open the option to request extensions of the QuantERA-funded projects. The QuaSeRT project has been extended until December 2021.
The main target of the project is the creation of optomechanical sensors achieving the quantum limit in the measurement process (determined by the Heisenberg principle). Such devices will exploit peculiar quantum properties, of both the mechanical oscillator and the interacting radiation field, to enhance the efficiency of the measurement and to integrate the extracted information in quantum communication systems. A crucial requirement for a realistic application scenario as sensors, is the operation and quantum performance of the devices at room temperature.
We will develop three different platforms that, according to the p
resent state of the art, are the most suitable to achieve our goal: (i) tensioned dielectric membranes (ii) trapped nanoparticles (iii) semiconductor nano-optomechanical disks. This parallel approach allows increasing the success probability, to extend the operating frequency range and diversify the systems for a larger versatility. Moreover, in order to study specific quantum protocols, we will exploit nano-electro-mechanical systems which have been shown to be the most suitable classical test-bench for this purpose thanks to their long coherence even at room temperature and their unprecedented control. Mechanical and optical properties of the different resonators will be improved, choosing innovative paths to advance the state of the art, in order to increase the coherent coupling rate and reduce the decoherence rate, eventually achieving quantum performance of the devices at room temperature, a crucial requirement for a realistic application scenario as sensors. Producing and manipulating quantum states of a sensor is an important pre-requisite for the quantum revolution, e.g., for implementing a quantum network that collects information from the environment and transfers it into quantum communication channels. We will produce prototype portable sensing systems, evaluate and compare the performance of the different platforms as acceleration sensors, study the possibilities of system integration and of functionalization for future extended sensing capability.
The consortium
The QuaSeRT partners are 6 Institutions from across Europe:
- CNR – Italy
- TU Delft
- CNRS-Université Paris Diderot
- University of Vienna
- University of Konstanz
- University of South-Eastern Norway
The site
In this site we report our objectives and we archive project documents and publications. The Blog section also offer an opportunity for on-line presentation of the research activity and for advertisement of the positions to be hired for the project. All researchers involved in the QuaSeRT project are invited to contribute to the Blog and/or comment the posts.
QuaSeRT 
You must be logged in to post a comment.