Dynamics of a movable micro-mirror in a nonlinear optical cavity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a Kerr nonlinear medium inside an optical cavity affects the dynamics of a movable mirror, revealing suppression of normal mode splitting and reduced backaction cooling, thus providing insights into photon blockade effects.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of Kerr nonlinearity on the dynamics of a movable mirror in an optical cavity, highlighting the inhibition of normal mode splitting and altered cooling behavior.

Findings

Kerr medium inhibits normal mode splitting due to photon blockade

Backaction cooling of the mirror is reduced with Kerr nonlinearity

Normal mode splitting can serve as a tool to observe photon blockade

Abstract

We consider the dynamics of a movable mirror (cantilever) of a nonlinear optical cavity. We show that a $\chi^{(3)}$ medium with a strong Kerr nonlinearity placed inside a cavity inhibits the normal mode splitting (NMS) due to the photon blockade mechanism. This study demonstrates that NMS could be used as a tool to observe the photon blockade effect. We also found that the backaction cooling of the movable mirror is reduced in the presence of the Kerr medium.