Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2015; San Antonio, Texas
Session S35: Optomechanics, Hybrid Systems and Macroscopic Systems at the Quantum Limit |
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Sponsoring Units: DAMOP Chair: Chen-Lung Hung, Purdue University Room: 210B |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:00AM - 8:12AM |
S35.00001: Anthracene Crystals Doped with Dibenzoterrylene Molecules in Optical Fibre Microcavities K.D. Major, E.A. Hinds, Alex S. Clark, C. Polliseni, S. Grandi, Y.H. Lien Dibenzoterrylene molecules placed in an anthracene crystal are stable emitters resistant to photobleaching and with a high quantum efficiency and low phonon coupling. Placing dibenzoterrylene doped anthracene crystals within a optical fibre microcavity can lead to enhanced emission of radiation into the modes of the optical cavity. The optical fibre microcavities are already coupled to a optical fibres and by selecting the correct cavity mirror reflectivities, the emission can be preferentially directed down the optical fibres. Excitation of the dibenzoterrylene molecules leads to the emission of single photons and can then be used as a micron-scale fibre coupled single photon source. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:12AM - 8:24AM |
S35.00002: Optomechanical Levitation of Tethered Dielectrics in a Cavity Tina M\"uller, Christoph Reinhardt, Bogdan Pici\'u, Abeer Barasheed, Simon Bernard, Alexandre Bourassa, Xinyuan Zhang, Christopher McNally, Jack Sankey Optically supporting dielectric materials has the potential to increase their mechanical quality factors $Q$ far beyond the limits set by material dissipation. As the mechanical frequency $\omega$ increases due to the applied optical spring, the quality factor increases as $\omega^2$, meaning that the overall dissipation rate decreases and the mass experiences less force noise from the environment. However, a major limitation when trapping weakly tethered dielectrics is the mode mixing with the low-$Q$ mechanical modes of the tethers, occurring when the frequency of the trapped element becomes degenerate with the tether mode frequencies. In addition, the maximum trap strength is limited by the maximum optical power a dielectric can be exposed to before breakdown. Here, we describe an optimal system to overcome these limits, based on a straightforward cavity levitation scheme and controlling the position and angle of the mechanical element via its tethers. We also show progress towards trapping a SiN tethered membrane with our scheme, and discuss implementations based on other materials. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:24AM - 8:36AM |
S35.00003: Optomechanics in a Millikelvin Environment Bradley Hauer, Allison MacDonald, Greg Popowich, Paul Kim, Aron Fredrick, Xavier Rojas, John Davis As advances in technology continue to improve the quality and reduce the size of nanofabricated devices, we edge closer and closer to the prospect of observing quantized motion of a mesoscopic mechanical resonator. Measurements of such devices, which consist of billions to trillions of atoms, would provide an excellent test of the scales at which quantum mechanics is applicable. However, due to their relatively large effective masses, these devices must be cooled to mK temperatures to reach their quantum ground state. The field of cavity optomechanics, which has already achieved quantum limited measurement sensitivity, provides a promising avenue for performing such measurements. To this end, we have designed a tapered fiber optomechanical coupling apparatus, with full 3D control and real time imaging of the coupling environment, on the base plate of a dilution refrigerator. This experiment is capable of passively cooling devices to temperatures below 10 mK, at which oscillators with resonance frequencies as low as 150 MHz will be cooled to single phonon occupancy. In this talk, I will present preliminary measurements from this cutting edge system. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:36AM - 8:48AM |
S35.00004: Optomechanical applications of optically levitated nanoparticles Levi Neukirch, Nick Vamivakas Optomechanics experiments performed in vacuum with optically levitated oscillators offer mechanical quality factors unmatched by clamped resonators. Single-beam gradient force traps have proven capable of stably levitating nanoscale dielectric spheres in high vacuum, and parametric modulation of the trap stiffness has been demonstrated as an efficient way to cool the center of mass motion. We present our optical levitation and cooling apparatus, and characterize its performance. We discuss several applications which extend control to degrees of freedom beyond the three-dimensional translational motion of the particle. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:48AM - 9:00AM |
S35.00005: Analytic Solution of the Equation of Motion for an Optically-Torqued, Overdamped Nanorod W.C. Kerr, H. Nasif, S. Raynor Shelton et al.\footnote{W. A. Shelton, {\em{et al}}, Phys. Rev. E {\bf{71}}, 036204 (2005)} performed an experiment to drive a nanorod, immersed in a viscous medium, by an optical field with rotating polarization. The nanorod had a length of about 5 microns, was held in an optical trap and placed in water, which provided a frictional torque. A linearly polarized optical beam was incident rod, and its polarization plane was rotated by passing it through a rotating half-wave plate. The rod's polarizability tensor was anisotropic, so its induced dipole moment was not parallel to the field; thus a driving torque was exerted on the nanorod. The experimental parameters were such that the inertial term of the equation of motion could be ignored. When this simplified equation was written in terms of an auxiliary variable proportional to the nanorod's angle in a rotating frame, the equation was the same as that of a damped, driven pendulum. We find that this ODE is amenable to analytic solution. The solution identifies a certain critical angular frequency, such that qualitatively different motions occur when the light polarization rotation frequency is less than or greater than the critical frequency. All features of the analytic solution agree quantitatively with the experiment. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 9:00AM - 9:12AM |
S35.00006: Dark-field Spectroscopy of Plasmonic Nanodevices with Nanometer Scale Features David French, Stephen Bauman, Desalegn Debu, Cameron Saylor, Joseph Herzog Plasmonic nanodevices are metallic structures that exhibit plasmonic effects when exposed to light, causing scattering and enhancement of that light. These plasmons makes it possible for light to be focused below the diffraction limit. Dark-field spectroscopy has been used to capture scattering spectra of these structures in order to examine the scattering and resonant frequencies of the plasmons provided by the devices. Dark-field spectroscopy is particularly well suited to this task because it is inexpensive to set up and it functions well with low signals. This paper examines the relation between the geometries of the devices and the spectral intensity of the scattered light. We study geometric parameters including device thickness and adhesion layer effects. Additionally we plan to investigate nanostructures fabricated with novel fabrication technique with device dimensions that are below 10 nm, both gap width and structure width. These devices are modeled computationally as well as manufactured and characterized experimentally. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 9:12AM - 9:24AM |
S35.00007: Probing emitter-cavity dressed states through environmental transitions Jake Iles-Smith, Ahsan Nazir In this work we explore the effect of phonons on the emission properties of a cavity QED system in several important parameter regimes -- the semi-classical intermediate coupling, Fano, and strong coupling regime. Specifically, we examine the effect of phonon interactions on the emission spectrum of a quantum dot in a high-Q optical cavity, focussing in particular on a micropillar type setup. We demonstrate that the quantum mechanical nature of the phonon environment, and short timescales over which phonons processes occur, allows one to probe the joint eigenstates of the cavity and TLS even in a semi-classical regime. Not only does this demonstrate a failure of the traditional quantum optics treatment, but also challenges the notion that phonons decohere such a system to a more classical description. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the behaviour we predict may be observed in a straightforward fashion by considering the cavity reflectivity, associated phase shift, or the cavity emission spectra. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 9:24AM - 9:36AM |
S35.00008: Near-analytic solutions to the PMD equations in Periodically Spun Fiber using Differential Transform Method Vinod Mishra Periodically spun optical fibers have been found to reduce Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) in propagating optical modes [1]. The resulting coupled ordinary differential equations are usually solved numerically. To gain better physical understanding and dependence of PMD Change Factor (PCF) on relevant parameters, analytical solutions are to be preferred. The current work uses Differential Transform Method to derive analytical solutions to the original equations as a series and investigates their properties.\\[4pt] [1] ``Analytical Treatment of Randomly Birefringent Periodically Spun Fibers'': Anna Pizzinat, Luca Palmieri, Brian S. Marks, Curtis R. Menyuk,and Andrea Galtarossa,J. Lightw. Techn., V. 21, No. 12, (2003) 3355. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 9:36AM - 9:48AM |
S35.00009: Monipulation of Light Propagation in Photonic Crystal Zhiyuan Yang, Amitabh Joshi, Yuri Rostovtsev A propagation of probe electromagnetic waves have been investigated in a heterostructure formed by linear and nonlinear layers. The appearance of a forbidden band gap for a probe electromagnetic field induced by another control electromagnetic field has been shown to lead to trapping of a probe pulse inside structure. Switching off the control field leads to resuming the propagation of the probe pulse. Implimentation of nonlinear layer has been suggested. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 9:48AM - 10:00AM |
S35.00010: Quantum Friction in Different Regimes Juliane Klatt, Stefan Buhmann Quantum friction is the velocity-dependent force between two polarizable objects in relative motion, resulting from field-fluctuation mediated transfer of energy and momentum between them. Due to its short-ranged nature it has proven difficult to observe experimentally. Theoretical attempts to determine the precise velocity-dependence of the quantum drag experienced by a polarizable atom moving parallel to a surface arrive at contradicting results. Scheel\footnote{S. Scheel and S. Y. Buhmann, Phys. Rev. A {\bf80} (2009).} and Barton\footnote{G. Barton, New J. Phys. {\bf12} (2010).} predict a force linear in relative velocity $v$ -- the former using the quantum regression theorem and the latter employing time-dependent perturbation theory. Intravaia,\footnote{F. Intravaia et al., Phys. Rev. A (2014).} however, predicts a $v^3$ power-law starting from a non-equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation theorem. In order to learn where exactly the above approaches part, we set out to perform all three calculations within one and the same framework: macroscopic QED. In addition, we include contributions to quantum friction from Doppler shift and R\"ontgen interaction, which play a role for perpendicular motion and retarded distances, respectively, and consider non-stationary states of atom and field. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 10:00AM - 10:12AM |
S35.00011: Friction forces on atoms after acceleration Diego Dalvit, Francesco Intravaia, Vanik Mkrtchian, Stefan Buhmann, Stefan Scheel, Carsten Henkel We revisit the calculation of atom-surface quantum friction in the formulation based on perturbation theory. We show that the power dissipated into field excitations and the associated friction force depend on how the atom is boosted from being initially at rest to a configuration in which it is moving at constant velocity parallel to the planar interface. In addition, we point out that there is a subtle cancellation between the one-photon and part of the two-photon dissipating power, resulting in a leading order contribution to the frictional power which goes as the fourth power of the velocity. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 10:12AM - 10:24AM |
S35.00012: Parametric mechanical pumping in graphene membranes Roberto De Alba, Isaac Storch, Thanniyil Sebastian Abhilash, Francesco Massel, Paul L. McEuen, Harold G. Craighead, Jeevak M. Parpia We demonstrate tension-mediated mechanical mode coupling in suspended graphene membranes. These nonlinear effects arise due to graphene's large elastic modulus and large deflections. We show experimentally that these mode-mode interactions can be utilized to parametrically amplify or cool mechanical motion, and that the coupled system obeys similar physics to optical-cavity-coupled mechanical systems. This enables all-electrical parametric control of the resonator dynamics, including self-oscillation. Mechanical pumping can thus enhance the performance of graphene-based force sensors, or supplement traditional cooling schemes to probe coupled mechanical systems approaching the quantum regime. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 10:24AM - 10:36AM |
S35.00013: Aging and annealing of ultrahigh quality factor silicon resonators Thomas Metcalf, Xiao Liu At liquid helium temperatures, resonators fabricated from single crystal silicon can have remarkably high quality factors, exceeding 50 million. However, the quality factors are still far from the limits predicted from known loss mechanisms, indicating the possibility of future improvement and increased sensitivity. Measurements of the baseline quality factor after a sequence of annealing and aging steps have shown that there are at least two loss mechanisms that contribute, one of which reappears with megasecond aging. The relation between these loss mechanisms and the resonator fabrication processing steps is considered, with implications for the ultimate sensitivity of resonator-based devices and in the phonon transport properties of silicon-based devices. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 10:36AM - 10:48AM |
S35.00014: Mechanical mode coupling and nonlinearity in as-grown GaAs nanowires Floris Braakman, Davide Cadeddu, Gozde Tutuncuoglu, Federico Matteini, Daniel R\"uffer, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, Martino Poggio We demonstrate coupling and nonlinear behavior of transverse mechanical modes of as-grown GaAs nanowires. Because of their small dimensions and potentially defect-free growth, nanowire cantilevers are promising as ultrasensitive force transducers for scanning probe microscopy. Furthermore, nanowire heterostructures can combine functionalities in one integrated structure which makes them attractive as hybrid systems. The observed nonlinearity is used to demonstrate mechanical mixing of two excitation frequencies, as well as to amplify a signal at a frequency close to the mechanical resonance of the nanowire oscillator. The mode coupling is observed both in a pump-probe experiment, where the resonance of one mode is shifted to higher frequencies by pumping the other mode, and in a time-resolved manner in a ringdown experiment, in which case a clear beating pattern with frequency equal to the frequency difference between the two modes is present. Sufficiently strong coupling forms the basis for phenomena such as phonon-cavity physics, mechanically induced transparency and synchronization. Furthermore, the nonlinearity and mode coupling can be used in various amplification schemes for enhancing sensitivity in force microscopy. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 5, 2015 10:48AM - 11:00AM |
S35.00015: Room Temperature Experiments with a Macroscopic Sapphire Mechanical Oscillator Jeremy Bourhill, Eugene Ivanov, Micahel Tobar We present initial results from a number of experiments conducted on a 0.53 kg sapphire ``dumbbell'' crystal. Mechanical motion of the crystal structure alters the dimensions of the crystal, and the induced strain changes the permittivity. These two effects frequency modulate resonant microwave whispering gallery modes, simultaneously excited within the crystal. A novel microwave readout system is described allowing extremely low noise measurements of this frequency modulation with a phase noise floor of -160 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz, near our modes of interest. Fine-tuning of the crystal's suspension have allowed for the optimisation of mechanical Q-factors in preparation for cryogenic experiments, with a value of 8 x 10$^{\mathrm{7}}$ achieved so far. Finally, results are presented that demonstrate the excitation of mechanical modes via radiation pressure force. These are all important steps towards the overall goal of the experiment; to cool a macroscopic device to the quantum ground state. [Preview Abstract] |
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