4,279 research outputs found
Cooling mechanical resonators to quantum ground state from room temperature
Ground-state cooling of mesoscopic mechanical resonators is a fundamental
requirement for test of quantum theory and for implementation of quantum
information. We analyze the cavity optomechanical cooling limits in the
intermediate coupling regime, where the light-enhanced optomechanical coupling
strength is comparable with the cavity decay rate. It is found that in this
regime the cooling breaks through the limits in both the strong and weak
coupling regimes. The lowest cooling limit is derived analytically at the
optimal conditions of cavity decay rate and coupling strength. In essence,
cooling to the quantum ground state requires , with being the mechanical quality factor and
being the thermal phonon number. Remarkably, ground-state
cooling is achievable starting from room temperature, when mechanical
-frequency product , and both of the
cavity decay rate and the coupling strength exceed the thermal decoherence
rate. Our study provides a general framework for optimizing the backaction
cooling of mesoscopic mechanical resonators
Cavity QED treatment of scattering-induced efficient free-space excitation and collection in high-Q whispering-gallery microcavities
Whispering-gallery microcavity laser possesses ultralow threshold, whereas
convenient free-space optical excitation and collection suffer from low
efficiencies due to its rotational symmetry. Here we analytically study a
three-dimensional microsphere coupled to a nano-sized scatterer in the
framework of quantum optics. It is found that the scatterer is capable of
coupling light in and out of the whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) without
seriously degrading their high-Q properties, while the microsphere itself plays
the role of a lens to focus the input beam on the scatterer and vice versa. Our
analytical results show that (1) the high-Q WGMs can be excited in free space,
and (2) over 50% of the microcavity laser emission can be collected within less
than . This coupling system holds great potential for low
threshold microlasers free of external couplers.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Single-photon transport and mechanical NOON state generation in microcavity optomechanics
We investigate the single-photon transport in a single-mode optical fiber
coupled to an optomechanical system in the single-photon strong-coupling
regime. The single-photon transmission amplitude is analytically obtained with
a real-space approach and the effects of thermal noises are studied via
master-equation simulations. The results provide an explicit understanding of
optomechanical interaction and offer a useful guide for manipulating single
photons in optomechanical systems. Based on the theoretical framework, we
further propose a scheme to generate the mechanical NOON states with arbitrary
phonon numbers by measuring the sideband photons. The probability for
generating the NOON state with five phonons is over 0.15.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
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