Squeezing the motion of a mechanical oscillator: towards noiseless phase sensitive amplification of quantum signals

Superconducting electromechanical circuits have recently proven useful as memory elements for storage of non-classical signals and for near quantum limited amplification of microwave fields. By using pulsed modulation of the spring constant of a mechanical oscillator at twice its resonant frequency we are able to squeeze its thermal motion and circumvent the usual steady state limits on squeezing. Combined with standard electromechanical techniques such as sideband cooling and two mode squeezing there is a clear path forward to vacuum squeezing of low frequency mechanical oscillators allowing for efficient single quadrature measurements and quantum enhanced force sensing.