Sideband cooling of an encapsulated micromechanical resonator using an integrated microwave cavity

Coupling mechanical resonators to optical and microwave cavities has enabled resonators to be used as ultra-sensitive detectors and has even allowed for the generation of mechanical quantum states. In these coupled systems, sideband pumping can be used to up-convert phonons in the mechanical mode into the cavity mode, cooling the resonator. Applications of meso-scale resonators such as clocks and resonant sensors benefit from the cooling achieved using electromechanical coupling, as reducing the noise temperature improves sensitivity in resonant sensors and phase noise in oscillators. However, existing implementations of sideband cooling rely on tools such as cryogenic systems or high power lasers that are challenging to implement in an integrated system. In this work, we use parametric coupling of an encapsulated micro-scale resonator to an integrated microwave cavity to demonstrate both sideband heating and cooling of the mechanical mode at room temperature. This implementation of sideband cooling in a low-cost integrated system at room temperature demonstrates the potential for cavity electromechanics to be used to improve current sensors or even implement qubits in personal devices.