Towards quantum entanglement of micromirrors via a two-level atom and radiation pressure

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to entangle two distant micromirrors in a cavity optomechanical system using a two-level atom and radiation pressure, applicable in both resonant and large-detuning regimes, with potential for experimental realization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme for entangling macroscopic mechanical oscillators via virtual photons and atomic assistance, enhancing decoherence suppression and deterministic entanglement without measurements.

Findings

Entanglement can be achieved in both resonant and large-detuning regimes.

Large-detuning suppresses cavity decay, prolonging decoherence time.

The scheme is deterministic and measurement-free, suitable for experiments.

Abstract

We propose a method to entangle two distant vibrating microsize mirrors (i.e., mechanical oscillators) in a cavity optomechanical system. In this scheme, we discuss both the resonant and large-detuning conditions, and show that the entanglement of two mechanical oscillators can be achieved with the assistance of a two-level atom and cavity-radiation pressure. In the resonant case, the operation time is relatively short, which is desirable to minimize the effects of decoherence. While in the large-detuning case, the cavity is only virtually excited during the interaction. Therefore, the decay of the cavity is effectively suppressed, which makes the efficient decoherence time of the cavity to be greatly prolonged. Thus, we observe that this virtual-photon process of microscopic objects may induce the entanglement of macroscopic objects. Moreover, in both cases, the generation of entanglement is deterministic and no measurements on the atom and the cavity are required. These are experimentally important. Finally, the decoherence effect and the experimental feasibility of the proposal are briefly discussed.