Cooling a Micromechanical Beam by Coupling it to a Transmission Line

Abstract

We study a method to cool down the vibration mode of a micro-mechanical beam using a capacitively-coupled superconducting transmission line. The Coulomb force between the transmission line and the beam is determined by the driving microwave on the transmission line and the displacement of the beam. When the frequency of the driving microwave is smaller than that of the transmission line resonator, the Coulomb force can oppose the velocity of the beam. Thus, the beam can be cooled. This mechanism, which may enable to prepare the beam in its quantum ground state of vibration, is feasible under current experimental conditions.