%0 Journal Article %D 2023 %T Collision-resolved pressure sensing %A Daniel S. Barker %A Daniel Carney %A Thomas W. LeBrun %A David C. Moore %A Jacob M. Taylor %X

Heat and pressure are ultimately transmitted via quantized degrees of freedom, like gas particles and phonons. While a continuous Brownian description of these noise sources is adequate to model measurements with relatively long integration times, sufficiently precise measurements can resolve the detailed time dependence coming from individual bath-system interactions. We propose the use of nanomechanical devices operated with impulse readout sensitivity around the ``standard quantum limit'' to sense ultra-low gas pressures by directly counting the individual collisions of gas particles on a sensor. We illustrate this in two paradigmatic model systems: an optically levitated nanobead and a tethered membrane system in a phononic bandgap shield.

%8 3/17/2023 %G eng %U https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.09922