1. |
- Engelsen, Nils Johan, 1987, et al.
(author)
-
Ultrahigh-quality-factor micro- and nanomechanical resonators using dissipation dilution
- 2024
-
In: Nature Nanotechnology. - 1748-3387 .- 1748-3395. ; 19:6, s. 725-737
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mechanical resonators are widely used in sensors, transducers and optomechanical systems, where mechanical dissipation sets the ultimate limit to performance. Over the past 15 years, the quality factors in strained mechanical resonators have increased by four orders of magnitude, surpassing the previous state of the art achieved in bulk crystalline resonators at room temperature and liquid helium temperatures. In this Review, we describe how these advances were made by leveraging ‘dissipation dilution’—where dissipation is reduced through a combination of static tensile strain and geometric nonlinearity in dynamic strain. We then review the state of the art in strained nanomechanical resonators and discuss the potential for even higher quality factors in crystalline materials. Finally, we detail current and future applications of dissipation-diluted mechanical resonators.
|
|
2. |
- Huang, Guanhao, et al.
(author)
-
Room-temperature quantum optomechanics using an ultralow noise cavity
- 2024
-
In: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 626:7999, s. 512-516
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- At room temperature, mechanical motion driven by the quantum backaction of light has been observed only in pioneering experiments in which an optical restoring force controls the oscillator stiffness1,2. For solid-state mechanical resonators in which oscillations are controlled by the material rigidity, the observation of these effects has been hindered by low mechanical quality factors, optical cavity frequency fluctuations3, thermal intermodulation noise4,5 and photothermal instabilities. Here we overcome these challenges with a phononic-engineered membrane-in-the-middle system. By using phononic-crystal-patterned cavity mirrors, we reduce the cavity frequency noise by more than 700-fold. In this ultralow noise cavity, we insert a membrane resonator with high thermal conductance and a quality factor (Q) of 180 million, engineered using recently developed soft-clamping techniques6,7. These advances enable the operation of the system within a factor of 2.5 of the Heisenberg limit for displacement sensing8, leading to the squeezing of the probe laser by 1.09(1) dB below the vacuum fluctuations. Moreover, the long thermal decoherence time of the membrane oscillator (30 vibrational periods) enables us to prepare conditional displaced thermal states of motion with an occupation of 0.97(2) phonons using a multimode Kalman filter. Our work extends the quantum control of solid-state macroscopic oscillators to room temperature.
|
|
3. |
- Vistoli, Giulio, et al.
(author)
-
MEDIATE - Molecular DockIng at homE: Turning collaborative simulations into therapeutic solutions
- 2023
-
In: Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery. - : Taylor and Francis Ltd.. - 1746-0441 .- 1746-045X. ; 18:8, s. 821-833
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Collaborative computing has attracted great interest in the possibility of joining the efforts of researchers worldwide. Its relevance has further increased during the pandemic crisis since it allows for the strengthening of scientific collaborations while avoiding physical interactions. Thus, the E4C consortium presents the MEDIATE initiative which invited researchers to contribute via their virtual screening simulations that will be combined with AI-based consensus approaches to provide robust and method-independent predictions. The best compounds will be tested, and the biological results will be shared with the scientific community. Areas covered: In this paper, the MEDIATE initiative is described. This shares compounds’ libraries and protein structures prepared to perform standardized virtual screenings. Preliminary analyses are also reported which provide encouraging results emphasizing the MEDIATE initiative’s capacity to identify active compounds. Expert opinion: Structure-based virtual screening is well-suited for collaborative projects provided that the participating researchers work on the same input file. Until now, such a strategy was rarely pursued and most initiatives in the field were organized as challenges. The MEDIATE platform is focused on SARS-CoV-2 targets but can be seen as a prototype which can be utilized to perform collaborative virtual screening campaigns in any therapeutic field by sharing the appropriate input files.
|
|