Michael Roukes
Caltech – California Institute of Technology
Tuesday 19th January 17:20 – 18:00 CET
ZOOM LINK TO JOIN IN: http://s.ic.fo/FNS2021_Jan19
Microwave cavity optomechanics, parametrically-coupled nonlinear oscillators, and single-molecule analysis
Michael Roukes
Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering
California Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT:
Although efforts toward quantum computation predominate, cavity optomechanics is increasingly being applied to novel applications in sensing. I will briefly review some of this recent work, and then describe our recent collaborative efforts toward massively-multiplexed single-molecule analysis using arrays of NEMS “pixels” read out by microwave cavity optomechanics. The underlying analysis of these systems owes much to investigations of parametrically-driven and -coupled nonlinear oscillators spanning back to the late 19th century. It is illuminating to compare these historical efforts (in the classical regime) with the more recent experimental efforts at the quantum limit, which have matured over the past fifteen years. I will describe opportunities and limitations I perceive in applying quantum-limited cavity optomechanics to sensing, providing context from our current efforts to realize technology for deep profiling of the single-cell proteome. I will conclude by outlining how long-standing questions in chemical physics might now be resolvable through quantum-coherent single-molecule sensing.
BIO:
Michael Roukes is the Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. His scientific interests range from quantum measurement to applied biotechnology – with a unifying theme of the development, very-large-scale integration and application of complex nanosystems to precision measurements. Roukes was the founding Director of Caltech’s Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) from 2003-2006. In 2007, he co-founded the Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI with scientists and engineers at CEA/LETI in Grenoble, which maintains a large-scale microelectronics research foundry. He then continued as co-director of Caltech’s KNI from 2008 until 2013. In 2016, he founded the Neurotech Alliance with a cohort of international collaborators. Concurrent with his Caltech appointment, he held a Chaire d’Excellence in nanoscience in Grenoble, France from 2008-2015. Among his honors, Roukes is a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and has been awarded Chevalier (Knight) dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Republic of France.