Cavity Quantum Optomechanics with Optical Microresonator

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Tobias Kippenberg (EPFL, Switzerland)
• Monday 09 March 2015, 15:30-17:00
• Rutherford building, Seminar Room B.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact pjh65.

The mutual coupling of optical and mechanical degrees of freedom via radiation pressure has been a subject of interest in the context of quantum limited displacements measurements for Gravity Wave detection for many decades. The pioneering work of Braginsky predicted that radiation pressure can give rise to dynamical backaction, which allows cooling and amplification of the internal mechanical modes of a mirror coupled to an optical cavity. Experimentally these phenomena remained however inaccessible many decades due to the faint nature of the radiation pressure force. In 2005, it was discovered that optical microresonators with ultra high Q, not only possess ultra high Q optical modes, but moreover mechanical modes that are mutually coupled via radiation pressure(1). The high Q of the microresonators, not only enhances nonlinear phenomena – which enables for instance optical frequency comb generation(2) as well as temporal soliton formation via the Kerr nonlinearity – but also enhances the radiation pressure interaction. This has allowed the observation of radiation pressure phenomena in an experimental setting and is an underlying key principle of the now fast developing research field of cavity quantum optomechanics(3, 4). In this talk, I will describe a range of optomechanical phenomena that we observed using high Q optical microresonators. Radiation pressure back-action of photons is shown to lead to effective cooling(5-8) of the mechanical oscillator mode using dynamical backaction. Cooling to the quantum regime is possible using sideband resolved cooling, with passive of cryogenic precooling to ca. 700 mK, which enables cooling the oscillators such that it resides in the quantum ground state more than 1/3 of its time(9). Increasing the mutual coupling further, it is possible to observe quantum coherent coupling(9) in which the mechanical and optical mode hybridize and the coupling rate exceeds the mechanical and optical decoherence rate (7). This regime enables a range of quantum optical experiments, including state transfer from light to mechanics using the phenomenon of optomechanically induced transparency(10). In addition experiments are described that utilize the optomechanical coupling for highly efficient force measurements using nanomechanical oscillators(11), as well as elements enabling switching, slowing or advancing of radiation(12). The optomechanical toolbox developed in the past years enables to extend quantum control to mechanical oscillators. New frontiers that are now possible include the generation of non-classical states of motion via post-selection(13) as well as the use of ground state cooled oscillators to create quantum limited amplifiers that use the damped mechanical oscillator as a engineered reservoir(14). References: 1. T. J. Kippenberg, H. Rokhsari, T. Carmon, A. Scherer, K. J. Vahala, Analysis of Radiation-Pressure Induced Mechanical Oscillation of an Optical Microcavity. Physical Review Letters 95, 033901 (2005). 2. T. J. Kippenberg, R. Holzwarth, S. A. Diddams, Microresonator-based optical frequency combs. Science 332, 555 (Apr 29, 2011). 3. T. J. Kippenberg, K. J. Vahala, Cavity Optomechanics: Backaction at the mesoscale. Science 321, 1172 (2008, 2008). 4. M. Aspelmeyer, T. J. Kippenberg, F. M. Marquardt, Cavity Optomechanics. http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.0733, (2012). 5. V. B. Braginsky, S. P. Vyatchanin, Low quantum noise tranquilizer for Fabry-Perot interferometer. Physics Letters A 293 , 228 (Feb 4, 2002). 6. V. B. Braginsky, Measurement of Weak Forces in Physics Experiments. (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977). 7. A. Schliesser, P. Del’Haye, N. Nooshi, K. J. Vahala, T. J. Kippenberg, Radiation pressure cooling of a micromechanical oscillator using dynamical backaction. Physical Review Letters 97, 243905 (Dec 15, 2006). 8. A. Schliesser, R. Rivière, G. Anetsberger, O. Arcizet, T. J. Kippenberg, Resolved-sideband cooling of a micromechanical oscillator. Nature Physics 4, 415 (2008). 9. E. Verhagen, S. Deleglise, S. Weis, A. Schliesser, T. J. Kippenberg, Quantum-coherent coupling of a mechanical oscillator to an optical cavity mode. Nature 482, 63 (Feb 2, 2012). 10. S. Weis et al., Optomechanically induced transparency. Science 330, 1520 (Dec 10, 2010). 11. E. Gavartin, P. Verlot, T. J. Kippenberg, A hybrid on-chip optomechanical transducer for ultrasensitive force measurements. Nature nanotechnology 7, 509 (Aug, 2012).

This talk is part of the AMOP list series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• AMOP list
• All Cavendish Laboratory Seminars
• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• Featured lists
• ME Seminar
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• Rutherford building, Seminar Room B
• School of Physical Sciences
• Thin Film Magnetic Talks

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.