The prospect of detecting single-photon force effects in cavity optomechanics

TL;DR

This paper proposes an interferometric method to detect single-photon level optomechanical interactions in cavity systems, advancing the experimental capabilities for controlling nanomechanical resonators with light.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible interferometric scheme for observing single-photon optomechanical effects in state-of-the-art cavity systems.

Findings

Proposed a new interferometric detection method.

Feasible with current experimental technology.

Enables observation of single-photon optomechanical interactions.

Abstract

Cavity optomechanical systems are approaching a strong-coupling regime where the coherent dynamics of nanomechanical resonators can be manipulated and controlled by optical fields at the single photon level. Here we propose an interferometric scheme able to detect optomechanical coherent interaction at the single-photon level which is experimentally feasible with state-of-the-art devices.