Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 6: Mikromechanische Systeme
Q 6.7: Talk
Monday, March 12, 2012, 12:00–12:15, V7.02
Quantum-coherent coupling of a mechanical oscillator to an optical cavity mode — Ewold Verhagen1, Samuel Deléglise1, •Stefan Weis1,2, Albert Schliesser1,2, and Tobias J. Kippenberg1,2 — 1Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, 85748 Garching, Germany
Optical laser fields have been widely used to achieve quantum control over the motional and internal degrees of freedom of atoms and ions, molecules and atomic gases. A route to controlling the quantum states of macroscopic mechanical oscillators in a similar way is to exploit the parametric coupling between optical and mechanical degrees of freedom through radiation pressure in suitably engineered optical cavities. If the optomechanical coupling is `quantum coherent', i.e., if the coherent coupling rate exceeds both the optical and the mechanical decoherence rate, quantum states can be transferred from the optical field to the mechanical oscillator and vice versa, thus allowing control of the mechanical oscillator state using the wide range of available quantum optical techniques. In this work we achieve for the first time quantum-coherent coupling between optical photons and a micromechanical oscillator. Simultaneously, coupling to the cold photon bath cools the mechanical oscillator to an average occupancy of n=1.7 motional quanta. Excitation with weak classical pulses reveals the exchange of energy between the optical light field and the micromechanical oscillator in the time domain at the level of less than one quantum on average.