Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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ISS: Intersectional Sessions

ISS 2: Micro Mechanical Oscillator 2 (Q, TT)

ISS 2.3: Talk

Monday, March 14, 2011, 15:00–15:15, HSZ 02

Quantum theory of light scattering for dielectric objects in optical cavities — •Anika C. Pflanzer, Oriol Romero-Isart, and J. Ignacio Cirac — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

We develop a full quantum theory to describe the coupling of light to the motion of general dielectric objects in high-finesse optical cavities. In particular, we derive a master equation to describe the center-of-mass motion of the dielectric object, the cavity mode and their coupling to the other modes of the electromagnetic field via photon scattering. Focusing on massive particles here, this general theory is in particular applied to the recent proposal of using an optically levitating dielectric as a cavity opto-mechanical system [1,2]. Furthermore, we explore the range of applicability of this theory with respect to the size of the dielectric object and investigate limitations on possible cavity-cooling schemes. By comparing our findings to results from classical Mie scattering theory, we investigate differences arising from a fully quantum mechanical treatment of the system.

[1]Romero-Isart, New J. Phys. 12:033015 (2010)

[2]Romero-Isart, Pflanzer et al., arXiv:1010.3109 (2010)