Precision measurement of charge number with optomechanically induced transparency

TL;DR

This paper introduces a practical optomechanical scheme utilizing optomechanically induced transparency to precisely measure the charge number of small objects, potentially detecting single charges through mechanical deformation analysis.

Contribution

It presents a novel method that leverages OMIT to detect charge numbers, offering higher sensitivity than traditional noise-based techniques.

Findings

The scheme can detect single charge changes.

Numerical simulations confirm feasibility with current technology.

The charge number correlates with OMIT window width.

Abstract

We propose a potentially practical scheme to precisely measure the charge numbers of small charged objects by optomechanical systems using optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT). In contrast to the conventional measurements based on the noise backaction on the optomechanical systems, our scheme makes use of the small deformation of the mechanical resonator sensitive to the charge number of the nearby charged object, which could achieve the detection of a single charge. The relationship between the charge number and the window width of the OMIT is investigated and the feasibility of the scheme is justified by numerical simulation using currently available experimental values.