Unconditional mechanical squeezing via back-action evading measurements and non-optimal feedback control

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how feedback control can transform conditional quantum squeezing into a deterministic, unconditional state in optomechanical systems, enhancing precision in quantum measurements and state engineering.

Contribution

It introduces and compares direct and Bayesian feedback strategies for achieving unconditional mechanical squeezing under non-ideal conditions.

Findings

Both feedback methods can achieve near-zero added noise.

Bayesian feedback is nearly optimal across various regimes.

Significant squeezing is possible even with imperfect back-action evading measurements.

Abstract

Backaction-evading (BAE) measurements of a mechanical resonator, by continuously monitoring a single quadrature of motion, can achieve precision below the zero-point uncertainty. When this happens, the measurement leaves the resonator in a quantum squeezed state. The squeezed state so generated is however conditional on the measurement outcomes, while for most applications it is desirable to have a deterministic, i.e., unconditional, squeezed state with the desired properties. In this work we apply feedback control to achieve deterministic manipulation of mechanical squeezing in an optomechanical system subject to a continuous BAE measurement. We study in details two strategies, direct (Markovian) and state-based (Bayesian) feedback. We show that both are capable to achieve optimal performances, i.e., a vanishing noise added by the feedback loop. Moreover, even when the feedback is restricted to be a time-varying mechanical force (experimentally friendly scenario) and an imperfect BAE regime is considered, the ensuing non-optimal feedback may still obtain significant amount of squeezing. In particular, we show that Bayesian feedback control is nearly optimal for a wide range of sideband resolution. Our analysis is of direct relevance for ultra-sensitive measurements and quantum state engineering in state-of-the-art optomechanical devices.