(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated an electromechanical circuit in which microwaves communicate with a vibrating mechanical component 1,000 times more vigorously than ever achieved before in similar experiments. The microscopic apparatus is a new tool for processing information and potentially could control the motion of a relatively large object at the smallest possible, or quantum, scale.

Described in the March 10 issue of Nature, the NIST experiments created strong interactions between microwave light oscillating 7.5 billion times per second and a “micro drum” vibrating at radio frequencies 11 million times per second. Compared to previously reported experiments combining microscopic machines and electromagnetic radiation, the rate of energy exchange in the NIST device—the “coupling” that reflects the strength of the connection—is much stronger, the mechanical vibrations last longer, and the apparatus is much easier to make.

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