Physics News

A major triumph in physics involved using photons to produce a quantum state in a mechanical oscillator that was visible to the naked eye. Mechanical oscillations are vibrations of atoms within a solid, which act as particles called phonons (since they are quantized sound waves). The control of phonons is more difficult than the control of photons; if we could control them, it would open up a whole new area of nanotechnology research, including the entanglement of mechanical systems. While the manipulation of phonons using light has been achieved, researchers in Japan have now found a way to control mechanical vibrations using electrically induced oscillations: controlling phonons with other phonons. In a Nature Physics paper, I. Mahboob, K. Nishiguchi, H. Okomoto, and H. Yamaguchi describe the construction of an acoustic resonant cavity, where one set of vibrations sets up a second oscillation, much as certain musical notes can cause other objects to vibrate. The difference is that both sets of vibrations