Mechanical Quantum Sensing for Nuclear Decay Experiments

Quantum mechanics imposes fundamental sources of noise in the continuous measurement of the position of a device. In this talk, I will outline a method to use such quantum-limited position sensors to perform a number of interesting measurements with nuclear decays. In particular, I will describe a system, built jointly with Dave Moore's group at Yale, that integrates a levitated mechanical quantum sensor with an electron pixel calorimeter. The 100 nm-scale levitated sensor is doped with beta emitters. The neutrino in an individual beta decay can be kinematically reconstructed using a the mechanical position data to determine the daughter nucleus momentum and the calorimeter to determine the beta momentum. I will overview the basic concept and design, the quantum limits in the measurement, and describe our projected sensitivity for searches for both precision electroweak tests and searches for new heavy sterile neutrinos using this system.