An ultra-low dissipation micro-oscillator for quantum opto-mechanics

Abstract

Generating non-classical states of light by opto-mechanical coupling depends critically on the mechanical and optical properties of micro-oscillators and on the minimization of thermal noise. We present an oscillating micro-mirror with a mechanical quality factor Q = 2.6x10^6 at cryogenic temperature and a Finesse of 65000, obtained thanks to an innovative approach to the design and the control of mechanical dissipation. Already at 4 K with an input laser power of 2 mW, the radiation-pressure quantum fluctuations become the main noise source, overcoming thermal noise. This feature makes our devices particularly suitable for the production of pondero-motive squeezing.

21 pages including Supplementary Information

References in corpus (8)

• Sideband Cooling Micromechanical Motion to the Quantum Ground State
• Optomechanical entanglement between a movable mirror and a cavity field
• Observation of strong coupling between a micromechanical resonator and an optical cavity field
• Radiation-pressure cooling and optomechanical instability of a micro-mirror
• Back-action evasion and squeezing of a mechanical resonator using a cavity detector
• Minimization of phonon-tunneling dissipation in mechanical resonators
• Probing optomechanical correlations between two optical beams down to the quantum level
• Inhomogeneous mechanical losses in micro-oscillators with high reflectivity coating