Dresden 2009 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 32: Focused Session: Quantum optomechanics

HL 32.3: Topical Talk

Mittwoch, 25. März 2009, 15:00–15:30, HSZ 01

Optomechanical correlations between light and mirrors — •Antoine Heidmann, Pierre-Francois Cohadon, and Tristan Briant — Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Paris, France

Recent progress in high-finesse optical cavities and mechanical resonators allows one to reach a new regime in which the dynamical properties of an optomechanical system are governed by the radiation pressure exerted by light on mirrors. This optomechanical coupling leads to quantum limits in ultra-sensitive interferometric measurements such as gravitational-wave detectors, but also to very efficient laser-cooling mechanisms. This may help to reach the quantum fundamental state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator, by cooling a micromirror down to a temperature unreachable by other conventional techniques.

To experimentally study this optomechanical coupling, we monitor in a very high-finesse cavity the displacements of moving mirrors, either coated on a cm-size silica substrate or on a silicon micro-resonator. We have recently observed the optomechanical correlations induced by radiation pressure between a tiny classical intensity noise of a light beam and the resulting mirror displacements. This scheme can be extended down to the quantum level and has applications both in high-sensitivity measurements and in quantum optics.