Optomechanical cooling with generalized interferometers

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how generalized interferometer configurations can enhance optomechanical cooling by calculating the radiation field and light force on a moving scatterer, revealing new ways to improve frictional cooling effects.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized framework for interferometers with arbitrary beam splitters to study optomechanical interactions and identifies configurations that enhance cooling.

Findings

A simple setup with a scatterer interacting with a separated optical resonator can significantly increase optomechanical friction.

The analysis extends to arbitrary interferometer configurations, broadening the design space for optomechanical cooling.

Enhanced cooling effects are achievable through specific interferometer arrangements.

Abstract

The fields in multiple-pass interferometers, such as the Fabry--P\'erot cavity, exhibit great sensitivity not only to the presence but also to the motion of any scattering object within the optical path. We consider the general case of an interferometer comprising an arbitrary configuration of generic `beam splitters' and calculate the velocity-dependent radiation field and the light force exerted on a moving scatterer. We find that a simple configuration, in which the scatterer interacts with an optical resonator from which it is spatially separated, can also significantly enhance the optomechanical friction.