Optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities: cooling of a micro-mirror and parametric normal mode splitting

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for cooling a micro-mirror to its quantum ground state using optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities, with control via mechanical coupling, phase difference, and photon number.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique for cooling and controlling a micro-mirror through coupled optical cavities, including analysis of normal-mode splitting and hybridization effects.

Findings

Cooling can be controlled by mechanical coupling strength and phase difference.

Energy transfer between cavities enables both mechanical and optical cooling.

Normal-mode splitting indicates hybridization of mechanical and optical modes.

Abstract

We propose a technique aimed at cooling a harmonically oscillating mirror mechanically coupled to another vibrating mirror to its quantum mechanical ground state. Our method involves optmechanical coupling between two optical cavities. We show that the cooling can be controlled by the mechanical coupling strength between the two movable mirrors, the phase difference between the mechanical modes of the two oscillating mirrors and the photon number in each cavity. We also show that both mechanical and optical cooling can be achieved by transferring energy from one cavity to the other. We also analyze the occurrence of normal-mode splitting (NMS). We find that a hybridization of the two oscillating mirrors with the fluctuations of the two driving optical fields occurs and leads to a splitting of the mechanical and optical fluctuation spectra.