Strong single-photon optomechanical coupling in a hybrid quantum system

TL;DR

This paper proposes a hybrid quantum system that significantly enhances single-photon optomechanical coupling by leveraging polariton properties, enabling exploration of quantum nonlinear effects in weakly coupled systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid system utilizing polariton interactions to achieve strong single-photon coupling beyond previous limitations.

Findings

Enhancement of cavity coupling by three orders of magnitude.

Suppression of upper-branch polariton coupling.

Induction of strong Kerr effect in the system.

Abstract

Engineering strong single-photon optomechanical couplings is crucial for optomechanical systems. Here, we propose a hybrid quantum system consisting of a nanobeam (phonons) coupled to a spin ensemble and a cavity (photons) to overcome it. Utilizing the critical property of the lower-branch polariton (LBP) formed by the ensemble-phonon interaction, the LBP-cavity coupling can be greatly enhanced by three orders magnitude of the original one, while the upper-branch polariton (UBP)-cavity coupling is fully suppressed. Our proposal breaks through the condition of the coupling strength less than the critical value in previous schemes using two harmonic oscillators. Also, strong Kerr effect can be induced in our proposal. This shows our proposed approach can be used to study quantum nonlinear and nonclassical effects in weakly coupled optomechanical systems.