Coherent phonon Rabi oscillations with a high frequency carbon nanotube phonon cavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates coherent phonon Rabi oscillations in a carbon nanotube phonon-cavity system, achieving high-frequency phonon transfer with potential for quantum regime applications.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of strong dynamical coupling and Rabi oscillations between two mechanical modes in a carbon nanotube phonon cavity.

Findings

First- and second-order Rabi oscillations observed at 591 kHz and 125 kHz

Achieved a frequency quality factor product of ~2×10^12 Hz

Potential for realizing quantum regime phonon Rabi oscillations

Abstract

Phonon-cavity electromechanics allows the manipulation of mechanical oscillations similar to photon-cavity systems. Many advances on this subject have been achieved in various materials. In addition, the coherent phonon transfer (phonon Rabi oscillations) between the phonon cavity mode and another oscillation mode has attracted many interest in nano-science. Here we demonstrate coherent phonon transfer in a carbon nanotube phonon-cavity system with two mechanical modes exhibiting strong dynamical coupling. The gate-tunable phonon oscillation modes are manipulated and detected by extending the red-detuned pump idea of photonic cavity electromechanics. The first- and second-order coherent phonon transfers are observed with Rabi frequencies 591 kHz and 125 kHz, respectively. The frequency quality factor product fQ_m~2=10^12 Hz achieved here is larger thank k_B T_base/h, which may enable the future realization of Rabi oscillations in the quantum regime.