Optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities: Cooling of a micro-mirror and parametric normal mode splitting

We propose a technique aimed at cooling a harmonically oscillating mirror mechanically coupled to another vibrating mirror to its quantum mechanical ground state. Our method involves optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities. We show that the cooling can be controlled by the mechanical coupling strength between the two movable mirrors, the phase difference between the mechanical modes of the two oscillating mirrors and the photon number in each cavity. We also show that both mechanical and optical cooling can be achieved by transferring energy from one cavity to the other. We also analyze the occurrence of normal-mode splitting (NMS). We find that a hybridization of the two oscillating mirrors with the fluctuations of the two driving optical fields occurs and leads to a splitting of the mechanical and optical fluctuation spectra.     

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.     

Normal mode splitting and ground state cooling in a Fabry-Perot optical cavity and transmission line resonator

Optomechanical dynamics in two systems which are a transmission line resonator and Fabrya-Perot optical cavity via radiation-pressure are investigated by linearized quantum Langevin equation. We work in the resolved sideband regime where the oscillator resonance frequency exceeds the cavity linewidth. Normal mode splittings of the mechanical resonator as a pure result of the coupling interaction in the two optomechanical systems is studied, and we make a comparison of normal mode splitting of mechanical resonator between the two systems. In the optical cavity, the normal mode splitting of the movable mirror approaches the latest experiment very well. In addition, an approximation scheme is introduced to demonstrate the ground state cooling, and we make a comparison of cooling between the two systems dominated by two key factors, which are the initial bath temperature and the mechanical quality factor. Since both the normal mode splitting and cooling require working in the resolved sideband regime, whether the normal mode splitting influences the cooling of the mirror is considered. Considering the size of the mechanical resonator and precooling the system, the mechanical resonator in the transmission line resonator system is easier to achieve the ground state cooling than in optical cavity.     

Optical multistability and cooling of a micromechanical mirror induced by radiation pressure in optomechanical cavity

The radiation-pressure induces the movable mirror and the steady-state amplitude of the cavity field displaying an optical multistable behavior is investigated in detail by numerical evaluation in Fabry–Perot optical cavity. We introduce an approximation scheme to derive and analyze the final effective mean phonon number using linearized quantum Langevin equation to describe optomechanical cooling. Our results show that the movable mirror can be cooled close to its ground state with low initial temperature and high mechanical quality factor.     

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.     

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.     

Ground state laser cooling using electromagnetically induced transparency

A laser cooling method for trapped atoms is described which achieves ground state cooling by exploiting quantum interference in a driven Lambda-shaped arrangement of atomic levels. The scheme is technically simpler than existing methods of sideband cooling, yet it can be significantly more efficient, in particular when several motional modes are involved, and it does not impose restrictions on the transition linewidth. We study the full quantum mechanical model of the cooling process for one motional degree of freedom and show that a rate equation provides a good approximation.     

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.     

Quantum entanglement in an oscillating macroscopic mirror

In this paper, we revisit the problem of quantum entanglement in an oscillating macroscopic mirror previously studied by Marshall et al. consisting of a modified Michelson interferometer where one of the mirrors is free to oscillate about its center of mass. A photon incident upon the oscillating mirror becomes entangled with the mirror, driving the mirror into a superposition of quantum states. Once the photon and mirror decouple, the mirror returns to its initial state. The purpose of our investigations was to optimize the parameter regime, taking into consideration the current state of technology and the demands imposed by the need to maintain a stable environment in the presence of thermal noise. Optimization should not demand ultra-low temperatures and this is reflected in our results. Our results also show that if the separation between states is maintained at 10^-14 m, the mirror size is reduced, making it easier to induce superposition in the mirror. The critical nature of mirror reflectivity and its connection to cavity decay rate was also revealed by our investigations. The results obtained through our investigations could be useful in quantum error correction, where decoherence negatively affects the results of computations performed by quantum computers. Finally, we note that we are only concerned with an isolated system, where no losses to the external environment occur and any decoherence that occurs within the system remains internal to the system; that is, any mention of decoherence refers specifically to recoverable decoherence.     

Frequency‐Modulation‐Enhanced Ground‐State Cooling of Coupled Mechanical Resonators

The coupled mechanical resonators (MRs) are the prominent candidate for studying macroscopic quantum coherence. The prerequisite for observing macroscopic mechanical coherence is cooling the MRs to their ground state. Here, a theoretical scheme is proposed for improving the cooling of two coupled MRs by imposing frequency modulation (FM) upon the system to suppress the Stokes heating processes. By the methods of covariance analysis and numerical simulations, it is demonstrated that the cooling of double MRs can be realized in both stable and unstable regions with high efficiency compared to the cooling without FM, even if in unresolved sideband (USB) regime. By modulating the parameters appropriately, the cooling efficiencies of two MRs can be flexibly adjusted.     

Ground-state cooling based on a three-cavity optomechanical system in the unresolved-sideband regime

In the unresolved sideband regime,we propose a scheme for cooling mechanical resonator close to its ground state in a three-cavity optomechanical system,where the auxiliary cavities are indirectly connected with the mechanical resonator through standard optomechanical subsystem.The standard optomechanical subsystem is driven by a strong pump laser field.With the help of the auxiliary cavities,the heating process is suppressed and the cooling process of the mechanical resonator is enhanced.More importantly,the average phonon number is much less than 1 in a larger range.This means that the mechanical resonator can be cooled down to its ground state.All these interesting features will significantly promote the physical realization of quantum effects in multi-cavity optomechanical systems.     

非线性光学腔中的相位调制光机械动力学

研究了Fabry-Perot光学腔中包含一个光学参量放大器来增强腔场与机械振子之间的耦合的光机械动力学行为.在解析边带机制下用量子郞之万方程具体研究了振子的涨落光谱、光学多稳态行为、机械阻尼与修正共振频移和基态冷却.通过数值解讨论了辐射压力诱导机械振子和腔场的稳态振幅所展现的光学多稳态行为,同时也分析了辐射压力引起的修正共振频移和机械阻尼与参量增益、输入激光功率和参量相位这三个因素的关系.此外,随着调节泵浦场的参量相位,振子的涨落光谱呈现简正模式分裂.通过精确求解最终有效声子数论证了基态冷却.结果表明,机械振子的冷却由初始浴温度、机械品质因数和参量相位这个三个因素控制.参量相提供一个新的方法来操控非线性光机械动力学.     

Feedback cooling of the normal modes of a massive electromechanical system to submillikelvin temperature

We apply a feedback cooling technique to simultaneously cool the three electromechanical normal modes of the ton-scale resonant-bar gravitational wave detector AURIGA. The measuring system is based on a dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) amplifier, and the feedback cooling is applied electronically to the input circuit of the SQUID. Starting from a bath temperature of 4.2 K, we achieve a minimum temperature of 0.17 mK for the coolest normal mode. The same technique, implemented in a dedicated experiment at subkelvin bath temperature and with a quantum limited SQUID, could allow to approach the quantum ground state of a kilogram-scale mechanical resonator.     

Optomechanical control of atoms and molecules

We briefly review some of our recent and ongoing work on nanoscale optomechanics, an emerging area at the confluence of atomic, condensed matter and gravitational wave physics. A central tenet of optomechanics is the laser cooling of a moving mirror, typically an end mirror of a Fabry-Perot resonator, to a point near its quantum-mechanical ground state of vibration. Following a general introduction we discuss how the motion of such a macroscopic quantum oscillator can be squeezed, and then show how the placement of a ferroelectric tip on the oscillator allows the coherent manipulation and control of the center-of-mass motion of ultracold polar molecules.     

Cooling trapped atoms in optical resonators

We derive an equation for the cooling dynamics of the quantum motion of an atom trapped by an external potential inside an optical resonator. This equation has broad validity and allows us to identify novel regimes where the motion can be efficiently cooled to the potential ground state. Our result shows that the motion is critically affected by quantum correlations induced by the mechanical coupling with the resonator, which may lead to selective suppression of certain transitions for the appropriate parameters regimes, thereby increasing the cooling efficiency.     

Observation of quantum motion of a nanomechanical resonator

In this Letter we use resolved sideband laser cooling to cool a mesoscopic mechanical resonator to near its quantum ground state (phonon occupancy 2.6±0.2), and observe the motional sidebands generated on a second probe laser. Asymmetry in the sideband amplitudes provides a direct measure of the displacement noise power associated with quantum zero-point fluctuations of the nanomechanical resonator, and allows for an intrinsic calibration of the phonon occupation number.     

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.     

量子环中量子比特的声子效应

在量子环中电子与体纵光学声子强耦合的情况下,通过求解能量本征方程,得出了电子的基态和第一激发态的本征能量及其波函数,进而以电子-声子系的基态与第一激发态构造了一个量子比特.数值计算结果表明量子比特内电子的空间概率密度分布随时间和空间角坐标作周期性振荡,且振荡周期随耦合强度的增大而减小,说明声子将导致量子比特相干性降低;还表明振荡周期随量子环内径（或外径）的增大而增大,因此适当改变量子环的尺度,可以提高量子比特的相干性. 关键词： 量子环 量子信息 量子比特     

球型量子点量子比特的声子退相干效应

采用求解能量本征方程、幺正变换及变分相结合的方法,研究声子效应对球型量子点中电子-声子系（极化子）能量、量子比特性质的影响。数值计算表明,能量随量子点尺寸的增大而减小,说明量子点具有明显的量子尺寸效应;当考虑声子效应时,能量、量子比特的振荡周期均减小,说明声子效应使得量子比特的相干性减弱;且量子比特内各空间点的概率密度均随时间做周期性振荡,不同空间点的概率密度随径向坐标和角坐标的变化而变化。     

球型量子点量子比特的声子退相干效应

采用求解能量本征方程、幺正变换及变分相结合的方法,研究声子效应对球型量子点中电子-声子系（极化子）能量、量子比特性质的影响。数值计算表明,能量随量子点尺寸的增大而减小,说明量子点具有明显的量子尺寸效应;当考虑声子效应时,能量、量子比特的振荡周期均减小,说明声子效应使得量子比特的相干性减弱;且量子比特内各空间点的概率密度均随时间做周期性振荡,不同空间点的概率密度随径向坐标和角坐标的变化而变化。