Quantum gravimetry with mechanical qubits

Abstract

Levitated mesoscopic particles hold the promise of revolutionizing gravity sensing by using quantum effects. However, conventional quantum gravimeters based on such systems fail to harness the intrinsic large-mass advantage of the particles, because their commonly utilized auxiliary quantum systems counteract the role of mass as a resource. To overcome this limitation, we propose a quantum gravimetry by directly using the mechanical qubit (QM) formed by a levitated particle as the gravity sensor. Without resorting to the auxiliary quantum system, our scheme enables a straightforward readout of the particle's motion under gravitational influence. The obtained sensitivity behaves as a $m^{-1/2}$-scaling with the mass $m$. We also generalize our scheme to the \textit{mechanical cat qubit} as the gravity sensor. The sensitivity further scales as $N^{-1/2}$ with the mean phonon number $N$. In the experimentally realizable parameter regime, a sensitivity on the order of $0.1~ \text{\textmu}\text{Gal}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ can be achieved, which outperforms the traditional schemes by two orders of magnitude. Reaching the \textit{double standard quantum limits} with $m$ and $N$ simultaneously, our scheme provides a feasible route toward compact high-sensitivity quantum gravimetry.