Intermittency in an Optomechanical Cavity Near a Subcritical Hopf Bifurcation

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates intermittency phenomena in an optomechanical cavity near a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, revealing complex dynamics influenced by nonlinearities and tunable coupling.

Contribution

It demonstrates the observation of intermittency and identifies a subcritical Hopf bifurcation in an optomechanical system with tunable coupling.

Findings

Intermittency observed between limit cycle and steady state behaviors.

A model with Duffing-like nonlinearity explains the experimental results.

Stability analysis confirms the presence of a subcritical Hopf bifurcation.

Abstract

We experimentally study an optomechanical cavity consisting of an oscillating mechanical resonator embedded in a superconducting microwave transmission line cavity. Tunable optomechanical coupling between the mechanical resonator and the microwave cavity is introduced by positioning a niobium-coated single mode optical fiber above the mechanical resonator. The capacitance between the mechanical resonator and the coated fiber gives rise to optomechanical coupling, which can be controlled by varying the fiber-resonator distance. We study radiation pressure induced self-excited oscillations as a function of microwave driving parameters (frequency and power). Intermittency between limit cycle and steady state behaviors is observed with blue-detuned driving frequency. The experimental results are accounted for by a model that takes into account the Duffing-like nonlinearity of the microwave cavity. A stability analysis reveals a subcritical Hopf bifurcation near the region where intermittency is observed.