Controlling Stationary One-Way Steering via Thermal Effects in Optomechanics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how thermal effects influence stationary Gaussian quantum steering in an optomechanical system driven by squeezed light, demonstrating controllable one-way steering and comparing it with entanglement.

Contribution

It reveals how thermal noise and squeezing control can induce and manipulate one-way quantum steering in optomechanics, with a detailed comparison to entanglement.

Findings

Gaussian steering can be generated via quantum fluctuations transfer.

One-way steering is controllable by squeezing degree and temperature.

Steering is stronger than entanglement but both can abruptly vanish under thermal noise.

Abstract

Quantum steering is a kind of quantum correlations stronger than entanglement but weaker than Bell-nonlocality. In an optomechanical system pumped by squeezed light and driven in the red sideband, we study-under thermal effects-stationary Gaussian steering and its asymmetry of two mechanical modes. In the resolved sideband regime using experimentally feasible parameters, we show that Gaussian steering can be created by quantum fluctuations transfer from the squeezed light to the two mechanical modes. Moreover, one-way steering can be observed by controlling the squeezing degree or the environmental temperature. A comparative study between Gaussian steering and Gaussian R\'enyi-2 entanglement of the two considered modes shows on one hand that both steering and entanglement suffer from a sudden death-like phenomenon with early vanishing of steering in various circumstances. On the other hand, steering is found stronger than entanglement, however, remains constantly upper bounded by Gaussian R\'enyi-2 entanglement, and decays rapidly to zero under thermal noise.