Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime
Introducing a controlled and strong anharmonicity in mechanical systems is a present challenge of nanomechanics. In cavity optomechanics a mechanical oscillator may be made anharmonic by ponderomotively coupling its motion to the light field of a laser-driven cavity. In the regime where the mechanic...
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2025-07-01
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| Series: | SciPost Physics |
| Online Access: | https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.1.016 |
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| author | Jonathan L. Wise, Clement Dutreix, Fabio Pistolesi |
| author_facet | Jonathan L. Wise, Clement Dutreix, Fabio Pistolesi |
| author_sort | Jonathan L. Wise, Clement Dutreix, Fabio Pistolesi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introducing a controlled and strong anharmonicity in mechanical systems is a present challenge of nanomechanics. In cavity optomechanics a mechanical oscillator may be made anharmonic by ponderomotively coupling its motion to the light field of a laser-driven cavity. In the regime where the mechanical resonating frequency and the single-photon coupling constant are small compared to the decay rate of the cavity field, it turns out that the quantum electromagnetic fluctuations of the laser field drive the oscillator into a high-temperature thermal state. The motional state may however be highly non-Gaussian; we show that a precise tuning of system parameters may even lead to a purely quartic effective potential for the mechanical oscillator. We present a theory that predicts the measurable signatures left by the mechanical anharmonicity. In particular, we obtain analytically and numerically the mechanical displacement spectrum, and explore the imprints of the mechanical anharmonicity on the cavity light field. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e547cebaae6b4efcbde0b9bc146a4a34 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2542-4653 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SciPost |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SciPost Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-e547cebaae6b4efcbde0b9bc146a4a342025-08-20T02:40:29ZengSciPostSciPost Physics2542-46532025-07-0119101610.21468/SciPostPhys.19.1.016Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regimeJonathan L. Wise, Clement Dutreix, Fabio PistolesiIntroducing a controlled and strong anharmonicity in mechanical systems is a present challenge of nanomechanics. In cavity optomechanics a mechanical oscillator may be made anharmonic by ponderomotively coupling its motion to the light field of a laser-driven cavity. In the regime where the mechanical resonating frequency and the single-photon coupling constant are small compared to the decay rate of the cavity field, it turns out that the quantum electromagnetic fluctuations of the laser field drive the oscillator into a high-temperature thermal state. The motional state may however be highly non-Gaussian; we show that a precise tuning of system parameters may even lead to a purely quartic effective potential for the mechanical oscillator. We present a theory that predicts the measurable signatures left by the mechanical anharmonicity. In particular, we obtain analytically and numerically the mechanical displacement spectrum, and explore the imprints of the mechanical anharmonicity on the cavity light field.https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.1.016 |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan L. Wise, Clement Dutreix, Fabio Pistolesi Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime SciPost Physics |
| title | Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| title_full | Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| title_fullStr | Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| title_short | Tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| title_sort | tunable anharmonicity in cavity optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime |
| url | https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.1.016 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonathanlwiseclementdutreixfabiopistolesi tunableanharmonicityincavityoptomechanicsintheunresolvedsidebandregime |