Using a Laguerre-Gaussian beam to trap and cool the rotational motion of a mirror

We show theoretically that it is possible to trap and cool the rotational motion of a macroscopic mirror made of a perfectly reflecting spiral phase element using orbital angular momentum transfer from a Laguerre-Gaussian optical field. This technique offers a promising route to the placement of the rotor in its quantum mechanical ground state in the presence of thermal noise. It also opens up the possibility of simultaneously cooling a vibrational mode of the same mirror. Lastly, the proposed design may serve as a sensitive torsional balance in the quantum regime.     

An all-optical trap for a gram-scale mirror

We report on a stable optical trap suitable for a macroscopic mirror, wherein the dynamics of the mirror are fully dominated by radiation pressure. The technique employs two frequency-offset laser fields to simultaneously create a stiff optical restoring force and a viscous optical damping force. We show how these forces may be used to optically trap a free mass without introducing thermal noise, and we demonstrate the technique experimentally with a 1 g mirror. The observed optical spring has an inferred Young's modulus of 1.2 TPa, 20% stiffer than diamond. The trap is intrinsically cold and reaches an effective temperature of 0.8 K, limited by technical noise in our apparatus.     

Review of cavity optomechanical cooling

Quantum manipulation of macroscopic mechanical systems is of great interest in both fundamental physics and ap- plications ranging from high-precision metrology to quantum information processing. For these purposes, a crucial step is to cool the mechanical system to its quantum ground state. In this review, we focus on the cavity optomechanical cooling, which exploits the cavity enhanced interaction between optical field and mechanical motion to reduce the thermal noise. Recent remarkable theoretical and experimental efforts in this field have taken a major step forward in preparing the mo- tional quantum ground state of mesoscopic mechanical systems. This review first describes the quantum theory of cavity optomechanical cooling, including quantum noise approach and covariance approach; then, the up-to-date experimental progresses are introduced. Finally, new cooling approaches are discussed along the directions of cooling in the strong coupling regime and cooling beyond the resolved sideband limit.     

All-optical optomechanics: an optical spring mirror

The dominant hurdle to the operation of optomechanical systems in the quantum regime is the coupling of the vibrating element to a thermal reservoir via mechanical supports. Here we propose a scheme that uses an optical spring to replace the mechanical support. We show that the resolved-sideband regime of cooling can be reached in a configuration using a high-reflectivity disk mirror held by an optical tweezer as one of the end mirrors of a Fabry-Perot cavity. We find a final phonon occupation number of the trapped mirror n=0.56 for reasonable parameters, the limit being set by our approximations, and not any fundamental physics. This demonstrates the promise of dielectric disks attached to optical springs for the observation of quantum effects in macroscopic objects.     

High-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator with a quantum-limited optomechanical sensor

We experimentally demonstrate the high-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator and its cooling by active control. Coating a low-loss mirror upon the resonator, we have built an optomechanical sensor based on a very high-finesse cavity (30 000). We have measured the thermal noise of the resonator with a quantum-limited sensitivity at the 10(-19) m/sqrt[Hz] level, and cooled the resonator down to 5 K by a cold-damping technique. Applications of our setup range from quantum optics experiments to the experimental demonstration of the quantum ground state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator.     

Entangling macroscopic oscillators exploiting radiation pressure

It is shown that radiation pressure can be profitably used to entangle macroscopic oscillators like movable mirrors, using present technology. We prove a new sufficient criterion for entanglement and show that the achievable entanglement is robust against thermal noise. Its signature can be revealed using common optomechanical readout apparatus.     

Mechanical systems in the quantum regime

Mechanical systems are ideal candidates for studying quantum behavior of macroscopic objects. To this end, a mechanical resonator has to be cooled to its ground state and its position has to be measured with great accuracy. Currently, various routes to reach these goals are being explored. In this review, we discuss different techniques for sensitive position detection and we give an overview of the cooling techniques that are being employed. The latter includes sideband cooling and active feedback cooling. The basic concepts that are important when measuring on mechanical systems with high accuracy and/or at very low temperatures, such as thermal and quantum noise, linear response theory, and backaction, are explained. From this, the quantum limit on linear position detection is obtained and the sensitivities that have been achieved in recent opto- and nanoelectromechanical experiments are compared to this limit. The mechanical resonators that are used in the experiments range from meter-sized gravitational wave detectors to nanomechanical systems that can only be read out using mesoscopic devices such as single-electron transistors or superconducting quantum interference devices. A special class of nanomechanical systems is bottom-up fabricated carbon-based devices, which have very high frequencies and yet a large zero-point motion, making them ideal for reaching the quantum regime. The mechanics of some of the different mechanical systems at the nanoscale is studied. We conclude this review with an outlook of how state-of-the-art mechanical resonators can be improved to study quantum mechanics.     

光纤1/f热噪声的实验研究

光纤热噪声是限制光纤传感、测量系统性能的最终因素.但是低频区域呈1/f谱特性的光纤热噪声的形成机制迄今仍然存在争论.实验研究了光纤1/f热噪声水平与光纤内杂质离子浓度和光纤施加张力的关系,验证了这类热噪声来源于光纤内部的机械耗散引起的长度自发抖动,符合热机械噪声的理论假设.     

Stationary entanglement between macroscopic mechanical oscillators

We show that the optomechanical coupling between an optical cavity mode and two movable cavity mirrors is able to entangle two different macroscopic oscillation modes of the mirrors. This continuous variable entanglement is maintained by the light bouncing between the mirrors and is robust against thermal noise. In fact, it could be experimentally demonstrated using present technology. Received 2 September 2002 / Received in final form 10 October 2002 Published online 7 January 2003     

Optomechanical entanglement between a movable mirror and a cavity field

We show how stationary entanglement between an optical cavity field mode and a macroscopic vibrating mirror can be generated by means of radiation pressure. We also show how the generated optomechanical entanglement can be quantified, and we suggest an experimental readout scheme to fully characterize the entangled state. Surprisingly, such optomechanical entanglement is shown to persist for environment temperatures above 20 K using state-of-the-art experimental parameters.     

化学发光法大气氮氧化物浓度自动分析仪中光信号探测模块温控系统设计

化学发光法是测量低浓度的大气氮氧化物含量的有效方法,可用于24h连续自动分析的大气环境监测系统。然而该方法需要高温转换室、高压臭氧发生模块、高温反应室等模块,使得仪器内的环境分布极为复杂,仪器在长时间运行后容易出现灵敏度下降、信噪比降低等现象。针对上述现象,设计了用于仪器的光信号探测模块的温度控制系统。该温控系统基于PID控制原理,通过AVR单片机ATMEGAl6对半导体制冷片（Ther—mo—ElectricCooling,TEC）的闭环控制来实现温度的精密控制。实验结果表明,该系统可以使光信号探测模块的温度控制在5℃±0．1℃,光电倍增管的暗噪声从25℃时的363个／s下降到5℃时的8个／s光子数,噪声波动标准差也从22降到3,能够很好地满足系统对信号探测稳定性的要求。     

Diamagnetic levitation of a milligram-scale silica using permanent magnets for the use in a macroscopic quantum measurement

Verification of macroscopic quantum mechanics requires that the position measurement accuracy of mirrors of various mass scales reach the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL) derived from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. At mg-scale, thermal noise of the suspension wire of the mirror is an issue to reach the SQL. We propose to use a magnetic levitation system consisting of permanent magnets and yokes, noting the fact that a silica mirror is diamagnetic, and have succeeded in the experimental verification to levitate a 0.1-1 mg silica mass. This is the first demonstration of the levitation system with this mass scale and this magnetic susceptibility scale using permanent magnets as far as we know. We also estimated major noise sources for a 0.1 mg silica mirror and found the noise level to be lower than the SQL at 400 Hz-18 kHz. In conclusion, the levitation system of a mg-scale mirror for the use in a macroscopic quantum measurement was realized.     

"Negative" backaction noise in interferometric detection of a microlever

Interferometric detection of mirror displacements is intrinsically limited by laser shot noise. In practice, however, it is often limited by thermal noise. Here we report on an experiment performed at the liquid helium temperature to overcome the thermal noise limitation and investigate the effect of classical laser noise on a microlever that forms a Fabry-Perot cavity with an optical fiber. The spectral noise densities show a region of "negative" contribution of the backaction noise close to the resonance frequency. We interpret this noise reduction as a coherent coupling of the microlever to the laser intensity noise. This optomechanical effect could be used to improve the detection sensitivity as discussed in proposals going beyond the standard quantum limit.     

Nonreciprocal ground-state cooling of mechanical resonator in a spinning optomechanical system

We theoretically present a scheme for nonreciprocal ground-state cooling in a double-cavity spinning optomechanical system which is consisted of an optomechanical resonator and a spinning optical harmonic resonator with directional driving. The optical Sagnac effect generated by the whispering-gallery cavity (WGC) rotation creates frequency difference between the WGC mode, we found that the mechanical resonator (MR) can be cooled to the ground state when the propagation direction of driving light is opposite to the spin direction of the WGC, but not from the other side, vice versa, so that the nonreciprocal cooling is achieved. By appropriately selecting the system parameters, the heating process can be completely suppressed due to the quantum interference effect. The proposed approach provides a platform for quantum manipulation of macroscopic mechanical devices beyond the resolved sideband limit.     

Physical noise model of a uniformly doped nanoscale FinFET photodetector

The noise mechanisms of a uniformly doped nanoscale FinFET photodetector including quantum mechanical effects is investigated theoretically. A numerical model has been developed for computation of different noise components in nanoscale FinFET. The drain current channel thermal noise under illuminated conditions is calculated. The noise parameters of the nanoscale FinFET equivalent circuit are strongly influenced by the incident optical signal and the quantum mechanical effects are found to play a major role in determining the overall noise performance of the device. It also reveals that the operating frequency can be adjusted suitably to make the noise behavior independent of the incident optical power. Other noise components such as Shot noise, thermal noise and diffusion noise have been calculated for the two port FinFET photodetector. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Bit error rate (BER) and noise equivalent power (NEP) has also been calculated.     

纳米光学辐射传热:从热辐射增强理论到辐射制冷应用

热辐射作为一种无处不在的物理现象,对于科学研究和工程应用都具有重要意义.传统上对热辐射的理解主要是基于普朗克定律,它描述了物体通过辐射交换能量的能力.而近年来的研究表明,由于微纳光学材料在尺寸上远小于热辐射峰值波长,它们的热辐射性质往往很大程度上有别于传统黑体辐射理论所描述的宏观物体.更重要的是,微纳光学材料的热辐射性质可以通过改变它们的几何尺寸和微观构型进行定量的优化设计与精确调控.纳米光学材料与辐射制冷效应的结合,给热辐射效应在能源和环境等相关领域的应用提供了极具前景的应用价值.本文首先从热辐射的基本原理和规律出发,介绍纳米结构热辐射增强的发展进程和最新进展,包括二维材料间的近场热辐射机理以及尺寸效应导致的远场热辐射增强;其次,介绍了近年来纳米光学材料在辐射制冷应用中的重大进展,包括可以实现高效日间辐射制冷的各种纳米光学材料设计;最后,进一步介绍了日间辐射制冷的各种实际应用,包括建筑物制冷、冷凝水收集、舒适衣物与太阳能电池降温等.此外,展望了纳米光学材料的辐射制冷技术在推动荒漠生态环境的治理与改造方面的广阔未来.     

Nonreciprocal Mechanical Squeezing in a Spinning Optomechanical System

A scheme for nonreciprocal mechanical squeezing (NMS) based on the three‐mode optomechanical interaction is proposed. In this scheme, a mechanical mode couples to a spinning whispering‐gallery‐cavity (WGC) mode and to an optical mode. An external laser is coupled into and thus drives the WGC via a waveguide. Mechanical squeezing results from the joint effect of the mechanical intrinsic nonlinearity and the quadratic optomechanical coupling, which, in the presence of strong thermal noise, is still considerable, while the nonreciprocity originates from the optical Sagnac effect. There are two NMS areas in the parametric space, one works for the laser driving from the left of the waveguide and another, from the right. For a given spinning speed of the WGC, the squeezing values in these two areas are equal if the corresponding detunings of the WGC differ from each other by two‐times of the Sagnac–Fizeau shift. At the red‐detuning resonance, the analytical results for the mechanical squeezing and cooling are obtained. The NMS scheme is robust to the thermal noise of the mechanical environment.     

Ground-state cooling of a suspended nanowire through inelastic macroscopic quantum tunneling in a current-biased Josephson junction

We demonstrate that a suspended nanowire forming a weak link between two superconductors can be cooled to its motional ground state by a supercurrent flow. The predicted cooling mechanism has its origins in magnetic field induced inelastic tunneling of the macroscopic superconducting phase associated with the junction. Furthermore, we show that the voltage drop over the junction is proportional to the average population of the vibrational modes in the stationary regime, a phenomenon which can be used to probe the level of cooling.     

掺杂蓝青铜的低频电压噪声研究

通过对掺杂蓝青铜的低频宽带噪声(BBN)的研究,发现在掺杂样品中杂质和缺陷能大大的加强低频电压噪声,并且噪声的幅度、波形又强烈地与单晶在冷却过程中的初始电流状态有关,从而揭示出电荷密度波的宽带噪声可能来自于样品中宏观缺陷的微观实质。 关键词：