Mesoscopic mechanical resonators as quantum noninertial reference frames

Abstract

An atom attached to a micrometer-scale wire that is vibrating at a frequency ∼100 MHz and with displacement amplitude ∼1 nm experiences an acceleration magnitude ∼10^9 m s^(−2), approaching the surface gravity of a neutron star. As one application of such extreme noninertial forces in a mesoscopic setting, we consider a model two-path atom interferometer with one path consisting of the 100 MHz vibrating wire atom guide. The vibrating wire guide serves as a noninertial reference frame and induces an in principle measurable phase shift in the wave function of an atom traversing the wire frame. We furthermore consider the effect on the two-path atom wave interference when the vibrating wire is modeled as a quantum object, hence functioning as a quantum noninertial reference frame. We outline a possible realization of the vibrating wire, atom interferometer using a superfluid helium quantum interference setup.