FEM simulation for quantum experiments with mechanical resonators (compute)
Title: FEM simulation for quantum experiments with mechanical resonators (compute)
DNr: NAISS 2023/22-523
Project Type: NAISS Small Compute
Principal Investigator: Witlef Wieczorek <witlef.wieczorek@chalmers.se>
Affiliation: Chalmers tekniska högskola
Duration: 2023-06-01 – 2024-06-01
Classification: 10302
Homepage: https://wieczorek-lab.com
Keywords:

Abstract

This research project explores the control over mechanical motion down to the quantum regime. The project thereby follows two different physical approaches: (i) coupling mechanical motion to light in so-called cavity optomechanical devices and (ii) using superconducting magnetic levitation as a means to reach ultra-low mechanical dissipation. The vision of the project is to develop quantum devices based on hybrid mechanical systems for quantum technologies, in particular, quantum-enhanced sensing. Further, these devices also allow study of fundamental physics questions, such as exploring the boundary between the quantum and classical world. This project requires, in particular, precise simulation of different types of mechanical resonators, both chip-based clamped and levitated resonators. The simulations are based on (a) the FEM software COMSOL and (b) on S4 simulation code (https://web.stanford.edu/group/fan/S4/, https://github.com/victorliu/S4.git). The simulations with method (a) require precise meshing of the involved geometries and incorporate parameter sweeps over different quantities of interest, for example, dimensions of the involved structures or magnetic field strengths. This requires extensive computational efforts not available on local PCs. The simulations with (b) require precise calculation of electric fields propagating in structured media and run over different parameter sets such as incidence angle and Fourier component.