Collapse models predict a tiny violation of energy conservation, as a consequence of the spontaneous collapse of the wave function. This property allows us to set experimental bounds on their parameters. We consider an ultrasoft magnetically tipped nanocantilever cooled to millikelvin temperature. The thermal noise of the cantilever fundamental mode has been accurately estimated in the range 0.03-1 K, and any other excess noise is found to be negligible within the experimental uncertainty. From the measured data and the cantilever geometry, we estimate the upper bound on the continuous spontaneous localization collapse rate in a wide range of the correlation length r C . Our upper bound improves significantly previous constraints for r C > 10 −6 m, and partially excludes the enhanced collapse rate suggested by Adler. We discuss future improvements. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.090402 Spontaneous wave function collapse models [1][2][3][4] have been proposed to reconcile the linear and deterministic evolution of quantum mechanics with the nonlinear and stochastic character of the measurement process. According to such phenomenological models, random collapses occur spontaneously in any material system, leading to a spatial localization of the wave function. The collapse rate scales with the size (number of constituents) of the system, leading to rapid localization of any macroscopic system, while giving no measurable effect at the microscopic level, where conventional quantum mechanics is recovered.Here we consider the mass-proportional version of the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model [2], the most widely studied one, originally introduced as a refinement of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) model [1]. CSL is characterized by two phenomenological constants, a collapse rate λ, and a characteristic length r C , which characterize, respectively, the intensity and the spatial resolution of the spontaneous collapse. 11AE2 times larger at r C ¼ 10 −6 m. The direct effect of collapse models like CSL is to destroy quantum superpositions, resulting in a loss of coherence in interferometric tests with matter-wave [6][7][8] or mechanical resonators [9][10][11]. Recently, noninterferometric tests have been proposed, which promise to set stronger bounds on these models [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Among such tests, the measurement of heating effects in mechanical systems, a byproduct of the collapse process, seems particularly promising [15][16][17][18]. Here, we demonstrate for the first time this method, by accurately measuring the mean energy of a nanocantilever in thermal equilibrium at millikelvin temperatures. We infer an experimental upper bound on λ, which is 2 orders of magnitude stronger than that set by matter-wave interferometry [20][21][22] for r C ¼ 10 −7 m, and the strongest one to date for r C > 10 −6 m. Theoretical model.-The detection of CSL-induced heating in realistic optomechanical systems has been extensively discussed in the recent literature [15][16][17][18][19]. Here we summarize th...

We present a scheme to measure the displacement of a nanomechanical resonator at cryogenic temperature. The technique is based on the use of a superconducting quantum interference device to detect the magnetic flux change induced by a magnetized particle attached on the end of the resonator. Unlike conventional interferometric techniques, our detection scheme does not involve direct power dissipation in the resonator, and therefore, is particularly suitable for ultralow temperature applications. We demonstrate its potential by cooling an ultrasoft silicon cantilever to a noise temperature of 25 mK, corresponding to a subattonewton thermal force noise of 0.5 aN/Hz.

Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is a powerful technique to detect a small number of spins that relies on force detection by an ultrasoft magnetically tipped cantilever and selective magnetic resonance manipulation of the spins. MRFM would greatly benefi t from ultralow temperature operation, because of lower thermomechanical noise and increased thermal spin polarization. Here we demonstrate MRFM operation at temperatures as low as 30 mK, thanks to a recently developed superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-based cantilever detection technique, which avoids cantilever overheating. In our experiment, we detect dangling bond paramagnetic centres on a silicon surface down to millikelvin temperatures. Fluctuations of such defects are supposedly linked to 1 / f magnetic noise and decoherence in SQUIDs, as well as in several superconducting and single spin qubits. We fi nd evidence that spin diffusion has a key role in the low-temperature spin dynamics.

Pulse tube refrigerators are becoming more common, because they are cost efficient and demand less handling than conventional (wet) refrigerators. However, a downside of a pulse tube system is the vibration level at the cold-head, which is in most designs several micrometers. We implemented vibration isolation techniques which significantly reduced vibration levels at the experiment. These optimizations were necessary for the vibration sensitive magnetic resonance force microscopy experiments at milli-kelvin temperatures for which the cryostat is intended. With these modifications we show atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy on graphite. This is promising for scanning probe microscopy applications at very low temperatures.

Friction in MEMS-scale devices is troublesome because it can result in lateral stiction of two sliding surfaces. We have investigated the effect of modulation of the normal force on the friction between two sliding MEMS surfaces, using a fully MEMS-based tribometer. We have found that the friction is reduced significantly when the modulation is large enough. A simple model is presented that describes the friction reduction as a function of modulation frequency as well. Using this technique, lateral stiction-related seizure of microscopic sliding components can be mitigated.