Optomechanical approach to cooling of small polarizable particles in a strongly pumped ring cavity

Journal Article · Tue Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.81.063820· OSTI ID:21437963

Schulze, R J; Genes, C; Ritsch, H ^[1]

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1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, and Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck (Austria)

Cavity cooling of an atom works best on a cyclic optical transition in the strong coupling regime near resonance, where small-cavity photon numbers suffice for trapping and cooling. A straightforward application to the cooling of the translational motion of other polarizable particles without sharply defined two-level transitions (such as molecules) fails as optical pumping transfers the particle into uncoupled states. An alternative operation in the far-off-resonant regime generates only very slow cooling due to the reduced field-particle coupling. We suggest one can overcome this by using a strongly driven ring cavity operated in the sideband cooling regime. The dynamics can be mapped onto the optomechanics setup with a movable mirror and allows one to take advantage of a collectively enhanced field-particle coupling by large photon numbers. A linearized analytical treatment confirmed by full numerical quantum simulations predicts fast cooling despite the off-resonant small single-particle-single-photon coupling. Even ground-state translational cooling (in the external potential) can be obtained by tuning the cavity field close to the Anti-stokes sideband for sufficiently high trapping frequency. Numerical simulations show quantum jumps of the particle between the lowest two trapping levels, which can be directly and continuously monitored via scattered light intensity detection.

• OSTI ID: 21437963
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 81, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.063820; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
CAVITY RESONATORS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLING
COUPLING
GROUND STATES
MIRRORS
MOLECULES
OPTICAL PUMPING
PARTICLES
PHOTONS
POTENTIALS
TRAPPING
VISIBLE RADIATION
BOSONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUIPMENT
MASSLESS PARTICLES
PUMPING
RADIATIONS
RESONATORS
SIMULATION