# Sideband ground-state cooling of graphene with Rydberg atoms via vacuum forces

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to cool a graphene resonator to its quantum ground state using Rydberg atoms and vacuum forces, leveraging enhanced Casimir-Polder interactions.

## Contribution

It introduces a new scheme for ground-state cooling of graphene via Rydberg atom coupling, exploiting vacuum forces and atomic polarizability.

## Key findings

- Resolved sideband cooling is achievable with this method.
- The occupation number of the flexural mode can reach the quantum limit.
- Large atomic polarizability enhances Casimir-Polder forces significantly.

## Abstract

We present a scheme leading to ground-state cooling of the fundamental out-of-plane (flexural) mode of a suspended graphene sheet. Our proposal exploits the coupling between a driven Rydberg atom and the graphene resonator, which is enabled by vacuum forces. Thanks to the large atomic polarizability of the Rydberg states, the Casimir-Polder force is several orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding force achieved for atoms in the ground state. By playing with the distance between the atom and the graphene membrane, we show that resolved sideband cooling is possible, bringing the occupation number of the fundamental flexural mode down to its quantum limit. Our findings are expected to motivate physical applications of graphene at extremely low temperatures.