Nonlinear optomechanics with gain and loss: amplifying higher-order sideband and group delay

TL;DR

This paper explores nonlinear optomechanically-induced transparency with gain and loss, demonstrating significant enhancement of higher-order sidebands and long optical delays, enabling low-power optomechanical amplification.

Contribution

It reveals for the first time active higher-order OMIT effects, showing how gain and loss can enhance sideband transmission and delay in optomechanical systems.

Findings

Enhanced higher-order sideband transmission and group delay in active cavities

Attainable hundreds of microseconds of optical delay in parity-time-symmetric regimes

Potential for low-power optomechanical amplification of probe light and sidebands

Abstract

We study the nonlinear optomechanically-induced transparency (OMIT) with gain and loss. We find that (i) for a single active cavity, significant enhancement can be achieved for the higher-order sidebands, including the transmission rate and the group delay; (ii) for active- passive-coupled cavities, hundreds of microsecond of optical delay or advance are attainable for the nonlinear sideband pulses in the parity-time-symmetric regime. The active higher-order OMIT effects, as firstly revealed here, open up the way to make a low-power optomechaical amplifier, which can amplify both the strength and group delay of not only the probe light but also its higher-order sidebands.