Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 August 1980:
Vol. 209. no. 4456, pp. 547 - 557
DOI: 10.1126/science.209.4456.547
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Quantum Nondemolition Measurements

Vladimir B. Braginsky 1, Yuri I. Vorontsov 2, and Kip S. Thorne 3

1 Professor of physics at the Physics Faculty, Moscow University, Moscow U.S.S.R. 117234
2 Associate Professor of physics at the Physics Faculty, Moscow University, Moscow U.S.S.R. 117234
3 Professor of theoretical physics in the W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125

Some future gravitational-wave antennas will be cylinders of mass sim100 kilograms, whose end-to-end vibrations must be measured so accurately (10–19 centimeter) that they behave quantum mechanically. Moreover, the vibration amplitude must be measured over and over again without perturbing it (quantum nondemolition measurement). This contrasts with quantum chemistry, quantum optics, or atomic, nuclear, and elementary particle physics, where one usually makes measurements on an ensemble of identical objects and does not care whether any single object is perturbed or destroyed by the measurement. This article describes the new electronic techniques required for quantum nondemolition measurements and the theory underlying them. Quantum nondemolition measurements may find application elsewhere in science and technology.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cavity Optomechanics with a Bose-Einstein Condensate.
F. Brennecke, S. Ritter, T. Donner, and T. Esslinger (2008)
Science 322, 235-238
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Quantum Optical Repeater.
Y. Yamamoto (1994)
Science 263, 1394-1395
   PDF »
Back-Action Evasion as an Alternative to Impedance Matching.
B. YURKE (1991)
Science 252, 528-532
   Abstract »    PDF »
Resonant-Mass Detectors of Gravitational Radiation.
P. F. MICHELSON, J. C. PRICE, and R. C. TABER (1987)
Science 237, 150-157
   Abstract »    PDF »
Precision Measurements and Fundamental Constants.
F. M. Pipkin and R. C. Ritter (1983)
Science 219, 913-921
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)