Bulletin of the American Physical Society
43rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Volume 57, Number 5
Monday–Friday, June 4–8, 2012; Orange County, California
Session G7: Invited Session: Cavity Optomechanics |
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Chair: Pierre Meystre, University of Arizona Room: Terrace |
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 8:00AM - 8:30AM |
G7.00001: Quantum aspects of cavity optomechanics with atomic ensembles and ensemble arrays Invited Speaker: Dan Stamper-Kurn While the motion of a many-atom ensemble of atoms interacting strongly with a single mode of an optical resonator can be devilishly complicated, under favorable conditions, the cavity can be made to interact with and to sense just one, or just a few, normal modes of the gaseous system. This leads to an atoms-based realization of cavity optomechanics, directly analogous to experiments in which one seeks to observe the motion of suspended mirrors, cantilevers, and membranes at the quantum limits of precision. I will discuss our progress toward demonstrating and understanding the distinctively quantum mechanical aspects of both the ``opto'' and ``mechanical'' portions of cavity optomechanical systems. Specifically, I will report on the observation of the ponderomotive squeezing of light by a mechanical oscillator, and of strong motional sideband asymmetry that demonstrates the quantization of collective atomic motion and quantifies the energy flux into the mechanical system due to quantum measurement backaction. I will conclude by describing our approach to realizing strong cavity coupling to a multi-mode mechanical system, specifically to an array of distinguishable mechanical oscillators. \\[4pt] The work reported in this talk was performed in collaboration with members of my research group, including Thierry Botter, Nathaniel Brahms, Daniel Brooks, Thomas Purdy and Sydney Schreppler, and was supported by the AFOSR and NSF. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 8:30AM - 9:00AM |
G7.00002: Optomechanical crystals Invited Speaker: Oskar Painter In the last several years, rapid advances have been made in the field of cavity optomechanics, in which the usually feeble radiation pressure force of light is used to manipulate, and precisely monitor, mechanical motion. Amongst the many new geometries studied, coupled phononic and photonic crystal structures (dubbed optomechanical crystals) provide a means for creating integrated, chip-scale, optomechanical systems. Applications of these new nano-opto-mechanical systems include all-optically tunable photonics, optically powered RF and microwave oscillators, and precision force/acceleration and mass sensing. Additionally there is the potential for these systems to be used in hybrid quantum networks, enabling storage or transfer of quantum information between disparate quantum systems. A prerequisite for such quantum applications is the removal of thermal excitations from the low-frequency mechanical oscillator. In this talk I will describe our recent efforts to optically cool and measure the quantum mechanical ground-state of a GHz oscillator (see figure below), and to demonstrate efficient translation between light and sound quanta. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:00AM - 9:30AM |
G7.00003: Sideband Cooling Micromechanical Motion to the Quantum Ground State Invited Speaker: John Teufel Accessing the full quantum nature of a macroscopic mechanical oscillator first requires elimination of its classical, thermal motion. The flourishing field of cavity optomechanics provides a nearly ideal architecture for both preparation and detection of mechanical motion at the quantum level. We realize a microwave cavity optomechanical system by coupling the motion of an aluminum membrane to the resonance frequency of a superconducting circuit [1]. By exciting the microwave circuit below its resonance frequency, we damp and cool the membrane motion with radiation pressure forces, analogous to laser cooling of the motion of trapped ions. The microwave excitation serves not only to cool, but also to monitor the displacement of the membrane. A nearly shot-noise limited, Josephson parametric amplifier is used to detect the mechanical sidebands of this microwave excitation and quantify the thermal motion as it is cooled with radiation pressure forces to its quantum ground state [2]. \\[4pt] [1] Teufel, J. D. et al. \textit{Circuit cavity electromechanics in the strong-coupling regime}, Nature 471, 204--208 (2011). \\[0pt] [2] Teufel, J. D. et al. \textit{Sideband cooling micromechanical motion to the quantum ground state}, Nature 475, 359--363 (2011). [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:30AM - 10:00AM |
G7.00004: Cavity Optomechanics: Coherent Coupling of Light and Mechanical Oscillators Invited Speaker: Tobias J. Kippenberg 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, however light forces have remained experimentally unexplored in such systems. Recent advances in nano- and micro-mechanical oscillators have for the first time allowed the observation of radiation pressure phenomena in an experimental setting and constitute the expanding research field of \textit{cavity optomechanics} [1]. These advances have allowed achieving to enter the quantum regime of mechanical systems, which are now becoming a third quantum technology after atoms, ions and molecules in a first and electronic circuits in a second wave. In this talk I will review these advances. Using on-chip micro-cavities that combine both optical and mechanical degrees of freedom in one and the same device [2], radiation pressure back-action of photons is shown to lead to effective cooling [3-6]) of the mechanical oscillator mode using dynamical backaction, which has been predicted by Braginsky as early as 1969 [4]. This back-action cooling exhibits many close analogies to atomic laser cooling. With this novel technique the quantum mechanical ground state of a micromechanical oscillator has been prepared with high probability using both microwave and optical fields. In our research this is reached using cryogenic precooling to ca. 800 mK in conjunction with laser cooling, allowing cooling of micromechanical oscillator to only motional 1.7 quanta, implying that the mechanical oscillator spends about 40\% of its time in the quantum ground state. Moreover it is possible in this regime to observe quantum coherent coupling in which the mechanical and optical mode hybridize and the coupling rate exceeds the mechanical and optical decoherence rate [7]. This accomplishment enables a range of quantum optical experiments, including state transfer from light to mechanics using the phenomenon of optomechanically induced transparency [8]. From a broader perspective the described experiments that exploit optomechanical coupling are motivated both by the effort to realize quantum measurement schemes on mechanical systems in an experimental setting as well as to explore the behavior of nanomechanical systems at low temperatures.\\[0pt] [1] T. J. Kippenberg, K. J. Vahala, Cavity Optomechanics: Backaction at the mesoscale. \textit{Science} \textbf{321}, 1172 (2008, 2008); [2] T. J. Kippenberg, H. Rokhsari, T. Carmon, A. Scherer, K. J. Vahala, Analysis of Radiation-Pressure Induced Mechanical Oscillation of an Optical Microcavity. \textit{Physical Review Letters} \textbf{95}, 033901 (2005); [3] V. B. Braginsky, S. P. Vyatchanin, Low quantum noise tranquilizer for Fabry-Perot interferometer. \textit{Physics Letters A} \textbf{293}, 228 (Feb 4, 2002); [4] V. B. Braginsky, \textit{Measurement of Weak Forces in Physics Experiments}. (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977); [5] A. Schliesser, P. Del'Haye, N. Nooshi, K. J. Vahala, T. J. Kippenberg, Radiation pressure cooling of a micromechanical oscillator using dynamical backaction. \textit{Physical Review Letters} \textbf{97}, 243905 (Dec 15, 2006); [6] A. Schliesser, R. Riviere, G. Anetsberger, O. Arcizet, T. J. Kippenberg, Resolved-sideband cooling of a micromechanical oscillator. \textit{Nature Physics} \textbf{4}, 415 (May, 2008); [7] E. Verhagen, S. Deleglise, S. Weis, A. Schliesser, T.J. Kippenberg, \textit{Nature} (in press, 2012); [8] S. Weis et al., Optomechanically Induced Transparency. \textit{Science} \textbf{330}, 1520 (Dec, 2010). [Preview Abstract] |
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