Ultrastrong coupling between electron tunneling and mechanical motion

International audienceThe ultrastrong coupling of single-electron tunneling and nanomechanical motion opens exciting opportunities to explore fundamental questions and develop new platforms for quantum technologies. We have measured and modeled this electromechanical coupling in a fully-suspended carbon nanotube device and report a ratio of $g_\mathrm{m}/\omega_\mathrm{m} = 2.72 \pm 0.14$, where $g_\mathrm{m}/2\pi = 0.80\pm 0.04$ GHz is the coupling strength and $\omega_\mathrm{m}/2\pi=294.5$ MHz is the mechanical resonance frequency. This is well within the ultrastrong coupling regime and the highest among all other electromechanical platforms. We show that, although this regime was present in similar fully-suspended carbon nanotube devices, it went unnoticed. Even higher ratios could be achieved with improvement on device design