Vortrag anlässlich des Fast Tenure Track Verfahrens „Far-from-equilibrium Quantum Systems”
Optical tweezers provide a powerful tool to manipulate objects at the microscale. They find applications in biophysics, material science and quantum optics. Optically trapped nano- and microparticles also offer a well-controlled experimental model system in stochastic thermodynamics, for example to investigate Brownian heat engines. Combining optical micromanipulation in vacuum with cavity optomechanics offers completely new possibilities, like quantum engineering of a “reservoir of light” to substitute the thermal environment.
In my talk, I will present our first steps towards a versatile experimental platform for far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics in the classical as well as the quantum regime based on levitated cavity optomechanics. I will discuss how this enables, amongst others, a single particle heat engine that operates near maximum efficiency at low friction and in the quantum regime. Finally, I will present our experimental implementation of a method to determine free energy differences in a system that is thermally driven far from equilibrium using the William-Searls-Evans fluctuation theorem.
Im Rahmen des Vortrages findet eine Lehrprobe zum Thema „Der (quantenmechanische) harmonische Oszillator“ statt.
