Open quantum dynamics of single-photon optomechanical devices

TL;DR

This paper provides an exact analytical solution for the quantum dynamics of a single-photon driven optomechanical interferometer, revealing new features in fringe visibility and enabling quantum state engineering of the mirror.

Contribution

It introduces a precise analytical model for single-photon optomechanical systems and explores how photon properties influence system dynamics and state preparation.

Findings

Exact solution for quantum equations of motion

Fringe visibility depends on photon frequency uncertainty

Potential to engineer arbitrary quantum states of the mirror

Abstract

We study the quantum dynamics of a Michelson interferometer with Fabry-Perot cavity arms and one movable end mirror, and driven by a single photon --- an optomechanical device previously studied by Marshall et al. as a device that searches for gravity decoherence. We obtain an exact analytical solution for the system's quantum mechanical equations of motion, including details about the exchange of the single photon between the cavity mode and the external continuum. The resulting time evolution of the interferometer's fringe visibility displays interesting new features when the incoming photon's frequency uncertainty is narrower or comparable to the cavity's line width --- only in the limiting case of much broader-band photon does the result return to that of Marshall et al., but in this case the photon is not very likely to enter the cavity and interact with the mirror, making the experiment less efficient and more susceptible to imperfections. In addition, we show that in the strong-coupling regime, by engineering the incoming photon's wave function, it is possible to prepare the movable mirror into an arbitrary quantum state of a multi-dimensional Hilbert space.