Mass sensing by detecting the quadrature of a coupled light field

TL;DR

This paper proposes a highly sensitive mass sensing method using optomechanical systems by detecting quadrature differences in light coupled to a mechanical resonator, achieving detection of extremely small mass changes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to mass sensing based on quadrature detection in optomechanical systems, enabling detection of mass changes as small as 10^{-8} to 10^{-7}.

Findings

Detection of mass change ratio up to 10^{-8} - 10^{-7}

Quadrature difference correlates with mass variation

Feasible system parameters demonstrated

Abstract

Ultrasensitive detections have been proposed as an application of optomechanical systems. Here we develop an approach to mass sensing by comparing the detected quadratures of light field coupled to a mechanical resonator, whose slight change of the mass should be precisely measured. The change in the mass of the mechanical resonator will cause the detectable difference in the evolved quadrature of the light field, to which the mechanical oscillator is coupled. It is shown that the ultra-small change $\Delta m$ from a mass $m$ can be detected up to the ratio $\Delta m/m\sim 10^{-8}-10^{-7}$ by choosing the feasible system parameters.