We study a multimode optomechanical system where two mechanical oscillators are coupled to an electromagnetic cavity. Previously it has been shown that if the mechanical resonances have nearly equal frequencies, one can make the oscillators to interact via the cavity by strong pumping with a coherent pump tone. One can view the interaction also as emergence of an electromagnetically dark mode which gets asymptotically decoupled from the cavity and has a linewidth much smaller than that of the bare cavity. The narrow linewidth and long lifetime of the dark mode could be advantageous for example in information storage and processing. Here we investigate the possibility to create dark modes dynamically using two pump tones. We show that if the mechanical frequencies are intrinsically different, one can bring the mechanical oscillators and the cavity on-resonance and thus create a dark mode by double sideband pumping of the cavity. We realize the scheme in a microwave optomechanical device employing two drum oscillators with unmatched frequencies, ω_1 /2π = 8.1MHz and ω_2 /2π = 14.2MHz. We also observe a breakdown of the rotating-wave approximation, most pronounced in another device where the mechanical frequencies are close to each other.
We demonstrate optomechanical interference in a multimode system, in which an optical mode couples to two mechanical modes. A phase-dependent excitation-coupling approach is developed, which enables the observation of constructive and destructive optomechanical interferences. The destructive interference prevents the coupling of the mechanical system to the optical mode, suppressing optically-induced mechanical damping. These studies establish optomechanical interference as an essential tool for controlling the interactions between light and mechanical oscillators.
Multimode optomechanical systems are an emerging platform for studying fundamental aspects of matter near the quantum ground state and are useful in sensitive sensing and measurement applications. We study optomechanical cooling in a system where two nearly degenerate mechanical oscillators are coupled to a single microwave cavity. Due to an optically mediated coupling the two oscillators hybridize into a bright mode with strong optomechanical cooling rate and a dark mode nearly decoupled from the system. We find that at high coupling, sideband cooling of the dark mode is strongly suppressed. …
We realise a simple and robust optomechanical system with a multitude of long-lived ($Q>10^7$) mechanical modes in a phononic-bandgap shielded membrane resonator. An optical mode of a compact Fabry-Perot resonator detects these modes' motion with a measurement rate ($96~\mathrm{kHz}$) that exceeds the mechanical decoherence rates already at moderate cryogenic temperatures ($10\,\mathrm{K}$). Reaching this quantum regime entails, i.~a., quantum measurement backaction exceeding thermal forces, and thus detectable optomechanical quantum correlations. In particular, we observe ponderomotive squeez…
Phonons offer the possibility to connect the microwave and optical domains while being efficiently transduced with electronic and optical signals. Here, we present a multimodal optomechanical platform, consisting of a mechanical-optical-mechanical resonator configuration. The mechanical modes, with frequencies at 265 MHz and 6.8 GHz, can be simultaneously excited into a phonon lasing regime as supported by a stability analysis of the system. Both the MHz and the GHz modes enter a self-sustained oscillation regime, leading to the intermodulation of two frequency combs in the optical field. We c…
Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary(卡尔加里大学量子科学与技术研究所);Department of Physics, University of Alberta(阿尔伯塔大学物理系);National Research Council of Canada, Quantum and Nanotechnology Research Centre(加拿大国家研究委员会量子与纳米技术研究中心);nanoFAB Centre, University of Alberta(阿尔伯塔大学纳米制造中心)
We propose a scheme for enhancing the optomechanical coupling between microwave and mechanical resonators by up to seven orders of magnitude to the ultrastrong coupling limit in a circuit optomechanical setting. The tripartite system considered here consists of a Josephson junction Cooper-pair box that mediates the coupling between the microwave cavity and the mechanical resonator. The optomechanical coupling can be modified by tuning the gate charge and the magnetic flux bias of the Cooper-pair box which in turn affect the Josephson capacitance of the Cooper-pair box. We additionally show tha…
We propose that the optomechanical systems can be potential platforms to implement the Fröhlich condensate of phonons. We consider a one-dimensional array of membranes coupled to the cavity field via a quadratic interaction, and the cavity is pumped by an external laser. Analytical and numerical results predict that the high phonon occupancy of the lowest or highest mechanical mode is achievable depending on the detuning of the driving laser, the optomechnical strength, and the temperature. The decoherence of the Fröhlich condensate can be largely suppressed by the large number of membranes. O…
Level repulsion - the opening of a gap between two degenerate modes due to coupling - is ubiquitous anywhere from solid state theory to quantum chemistry. In contrast, if one mode has negative energy, the mode frequencies attract instead. They converge and develop imaginary components, leading to an instability; an exceptional point marks the transition. This, however, only occurs if the dissipation rates of the two modes are comparable. Here we expose a theoretical framework for the general phenomenon and realize it experimentally through engineered dissipation in a multimode superconducting …
The motion of a mechanical resonator is intrinsically decomposed over a collection of normal modes of vibration. When the resonator is used as a sensor, its multimode nature often deteriorates or limits its performance and sensitivity. This challenge is frequently encountered in state-of-the-art optomechanical sensing platforms. We present a mechanical design strategy that ensures that optomechanical measurements can retrieve information on a single mechanical degree of freedom, and implement it in a sliced photonic crystal nanobeam resonator. A spectral design approach is used to make mechani…
Cavity optomagnonics has emerged as a promising platform for studying coherent photon-spin interactions as well as tunable microwave-to-optical conversion. However, current implementation of cavity optomagnonics in ferrimagnetic crystals remains orders of magnitude larger in volume than state-of-the-art cavity optomechanical devices, resulting in very limited magneto-optical interaction strength. Here, we demonstrate a cavity optomagnonic device based on integrated waveguides and its application for microwave-to-optical conversion. By designing a ferrimagnetic rib waveguide to support multiple…
A pertinent question in cavity optomechanics is whether reaching the regime of large single-photon cooperativity, where the single-photon coupling rate exceeds the geometric mean of the cavity and mechanical decay rates, can enable any new phenomena. We show that in some multimode optomechanical systems, the single-photon cooperativity can indeed be a figure of merit. We first study a system with one cavity mode and two mechanical oscillators which combines the concepts of levitated optomechanics and coherent scattering with standard dispersive optomechanics. Later, we study a more complicated…
Directional transport is obtained in various multimode systems by driving multiple, nonreciprocally-interfering interactions between individual bosonic modes. However, systems sustaining the required number of modes become physically complex. In our microwave-optomechanical experiment, we show how to configure nonreciprocal transport between frequency components of a single superconducting cavity coupled to two drumhead oscillators. The frequency components are promoted to Floquet modes and generate the missing dimension to realize an isolator and a directional amplifier. A second cavity left …
The main challenge in deterministic quantum state transfer between remote mechanical resonators is the local decoherence and the transmission losses in the communication channel. In the path of overcoming this limitation, here we employ a shortcut to adiabatic passage protocol to devise a fast and reliable evolution path between two remote mechanical modes in separate optomechanical systems. A quantum state transfer between the two nodes is conceived by engineering their coupling to an intermediate fiber optical channel. The coupling pulses are operated such that the dark eigenmode of the syst…