Superradiance and collective gain in multimode optomechanics

TL;DR

This paper explores how a strongly driven multimode optomechanical system can exhibit superradiance or collective gain, enabling enhanced cooling or phonon laser action, with the transition controlled by pump detuning.

Contribution

It introduces a model showing cooperative effects in multimode optomechanics and demonstrates control over superradiant and gain regimes via pump detuning.

Findings

Superradiant regime enables enhanced optical cooling.

Collective gain regime could lead to thresholdless phonon lasing.

Threshold power scales inversely with the number of modes.

Abstract

We present a description of a strongly driven multimode optomechanical system that shows the emergence of cooperative effects usually known from systems of atom-light interaction. Our calculations show that under application of a coherent pump field the system's response can be switched from a superradiant regime to a collective gain regime by varying the frequency detuning of the pump. In the superradiant regime, enhanced optical cooling of a single vibrational mode is possible, whereas the collective gain regime would potentially enable one to achieve almost thresholdless phonon laser action. The threshold pumping power scales as 1/N.