Linear mechanical oscillators have been applied to measure very small forces, mostly with the help of noise suppression. In contrast, adding noise to non-linear oscillators can improve the measurement conditions. Here, this effect of stochastic resonance is demonstrated in a macroscopic torsion oscillator, for an optomechanical non-linear potential. The signal output is enhanced for a sub-threshold electronic signal. This non-linear oscillator serves as a model system for the enhancement of signal-to-noise ratio in high precision optomechanical experiments.
Optomechanical systems offer unique opportunities to explore macroscopic quantum state and related fundamental problems in quantum mechanics. Here, we propose a quantum optomechanical system involving exchange interaction between spin angular momentum of light and a torsional oscillator. We demonstrate that this system allows coherent control of the torsional quantum state of a torsional oscillator on the single photon level, which facilitates efficient cooling and squeezing of the torsional oscillator. Furthermore, the torsional oscillator with a macroscopic length scale can be prepared in Sc…
We demonstrate coherent control of optomechanically induced transparency and Fano resonances in a four mirror macroscopic optomechanical cavity, with two movable mirrors, each driven by an external mechanical pump. The variable control of the amplitude and phase of the coherent mechanical pumps provides a means of tuning the shape and nature of the Fano profiles. Further, our scheme shows the occurrence of tunable optomechanical features, even at very low mechanical driving field amplitudes, in macroscopic optomechanical cavities.
Using light to measure an object's motion is central to operating mechanical sensors that probe forces and fields. Cavity optomechanical systems embed mechanical resonators inside optical resonators. This enhances the sensitivity of optomechanical measurements, but only if the mechanical resonator does not spoil the properties of the optical cavity. For example, cavity optomechanical detection of resonators made from optically absorbing materials, or whose geometry does not possess suitable spatial symmetry, is challenging. Here we demonstrate a system that overcomes challenges in measuring hi…
Intracavity squeezing is a promising technique that may improve the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors and cool optomechanical oscillators to the ground state. However, the photothermal effect may modify the occurrence of optomechanical coupling due to the presence of a nonlinear optical crystal in an optical cavity. We propose a novel method to predict the influence of the photothermal effect by measuring the susceptibility of the optomechanical oscillator and identifying the net optical spring constant and photothermal absorption rate. Using this method, we succeeded in precisely es…
Mechanical rotation and oscillation have far lower frequencies than light does; thus they are not coupled to each other conventionally. In this Letter, we show the torsional mechanical oscillation of an optical cavity can be coupled to the optical modes by introducing birefringence, which produces nondegenerate modes in the cavity: ordinary and extraordinary rays. Twisting the cavity mixes them and modulates the electromagnetic energy. We find torsional optomechanical Hamiltonian by quantising the total energy and reveal the torsional oscillation can be resonantly driven by light.
Bound states in the continuum (BICs), an emerging type of long-lived resonances different from the cavity-based ones, have been explored in several classical systems, including photonic crystals and surface acoustic waves. Here, we reveal symmetry-protected mechanical BICs in the structure of slab-on-substrate optomechanical crystals. Using a group theory approach, we identified all the mechanical BICs at the $Γ$ point in optomechanical crystals with $C_{4v}$ and $C_{6v}$ symmetries as examples, and analyzed their coupling with the co-localized optical BICs and guided resonances due to both mo…
Probing the boundary between classical and quantum mechanics has been one of the central themes in modern physics. Recently, experiments to precisely measure the force acting on milligram scale oscillators with optical cavities are attracting interest as promising tools to test quantum mechanics, decoherence mechanisms, and gravitational physics. In this paper, we review the present status of experiments using milligram scale optomechanical systems. We compare the feasibility of reaching the quantum regime with a pendulum, torsion pendulum, and optically levitated mirror. Considerations for de…
Nanomechanical systems are generally embedded in a macroscopic environment where the sources of thermal noise are difficult to pinpoint. We engineer a silicon nitride membrane optomechanical resonator such that its thermal noise is acoustically driven by a spatially well-defined remote macroscopic bath. This bath acts as an acoustic blackbody emitting and absorbing acoustic radiation through the silicon substrate. Our optomechanical system acts as a sensitive detector for the blackbody temperature and for photoacoustic imaging. We demonstrate that the nanomechanical mode temperature is governe…
Quantum ground-state cooling of macroscopic mechanical resonators is of essential importance to both fundamental physics and applied science. Conventional method of laser cooling is limited by the quantum backaction, which requires mechanical sideband resolved in order to cool to ground state. This work presents an idea to break the quantum backaction limit by engineering intracavity optical squeezing. It gives rise to quantum interference for all the dissipation channels, and under certain circumstances can totally remove the influence of the cavity dissipation and the resultant quantum backa…
Photon carries linear momentum and angular momentum simultaneously. Within the light-matter interaction process, exchange of linear momentum results in optical forces, whereas exchange of angular momentum leads to optical torques. Use of optical forces (light pressure or damping) have been long and wide in quantum optomechanics, however, those of optical torque and optical angular momentum are not. Here we propose a theoretical framework based on optical angular momentum and optical torques to derive the Hamiltonians of cavity orbital and spin angular momentum optomechanical systems, respectiv…
Preparing macroscopic mechanical resonators close to their motional quantum groundstate and generating entanglement with light offers great opportunities in studying fundamental physics and in developing a new generation of quantum applications. Here we propose an experimentally interesting scheme, which is particularly well suited for systems in the sideband-unresolved regime, based on coherent feedback with linear, passive optical components to achieve groundstate cooling and photon-phonon entanglement generation with optomechanical devices. We find that, by introducing an additional passive…
In the majority of optomechanical experiments, the interaction between light and mechanical motion is mediated by radiation pressure, which arises from momentum transfer of reflecting photons. This is an inherently weak interaction, and optically generated carriers in semiconductors have been predicted to be the mediator of different and potentially much stronger forces. Here we demonstrate optomechanical forces induced by electron-hole pairs in coupled quantum wells embedded into a free-free nanomembrane. We identify contributions from the deformation-potential and piezoelectric coupling and …
Achieving cavity-optomechanical strong coupling with high-frequency phonons provides a rich avenue for quantum technology development including quantum state-transfer, memory, and transduction, as well as enabling several fundamental studies of macroscopic phononic degrees-of-freedom. Reaching such coupling with GHz mechanical modes however has proved challenging, with a prominent hindrance being material- and surface-induced-optical absorption in many materials. Here, we circumvent these challenges and report the observation of optomechanical strong coupling to a high frequency (11 GHz) mecha…
Optomechanical systems are suitable for elucidating quantum phenomena at the macroscopic scale in the sense of the mass scale. The systems should be well-isolated from the environment to avoid classical noises, which conceal quantum signals. Optical levitation is a promising way to isolate optomechanical systems from the environment. To realize optical levitation, all degrees of freedom need to be trapped. Until now, longitudinal trapping and rotational trapping of a mirror with optical radiation pressure have been studied in detail and validated with various experiments. However, less attenti…
Entanglement generation at a macroscopic scale offers an exciting avenue to develop new quantum technologies and study fundamental physics on a tabletop. Cavity quantum optomechanics provides an ideal platform to generate and exploit such phenomena owing to the precision of quantum optics combined with recent experimental advances in optomechanical devices. In this work, we propose schemes operating outside the resolved-sideband regime, to prepare and verify both optical-mechanical and mechanical-mechanical entanglement. Our schemes employ pulsed interactions with a duration much less than the…
The rapid development of high-Q macroscopic mechanical resonators has enabled great advances in optomechanics. Further improvements could allow for quantum-limited or quantum-enhanced applications at ambient temperature. Some of the remaining challenges include the integration of high-Q structures on a chip, while simultaneously achieving large coupling strengths through an optical read-out. Here, we present a versatile fabrication method, which allows us to build fully integrated optomechanical structures. We place a photonic crystal cavity directly above a mechanical resonator with high-Q fu…
