Cavity Optomechanics with Cold Atoms

Ke-ye, Zhang, Lǔ +4 more

Baijun Li, Tianxiang Lu, Jie Wang +1 more

Cavity optomechanics represents a frontier research direction in quantum science and technology, centered on the control and exploration of interactions between electromagnetic fields and mechanical motion. Rooted in quantum mechanics, this field realizes efficient coupling and precise manipulation of optical fields and mechanical vibrations through the structural design and precise regulation of optical microcavities and mechanical oscillators, thereby revealing and harnessing novel quantum phenomena. In recent years, cavity optomechanics has evolved into an interdisciplinary frontier integrating quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and quantum precision measurement, exhibiting profound application in both fundamental physics research and quantum information science. With advancements in technologies such as nanomanufacturing and laser cooling, optomechanical interactions have been successfully demonstrated in various experimental systems. Among these platforms, cavity cold-atom systems stand out as one of the ideal platforms for implementing quantum optomechanics. Featuring exceptional environmental isolation, long quantum coherence times, and strong light-matter interaction, these systems provide a crucial testbed for exploring strong and even ultrastrong optomechanical coupling effects as well as rich nonlinear quantum phenomena. This paper reviews the recent progress in optomechanical control and manipulation based on cavity cold-atom systems. We first outline the fundamental principles of standard cavity optomechanical systems. Then, we describe the experimental realization of linear and nonlinear optomechanical couplings in cold-atom systems. After that, we focus on the representative applications of this platform in high-precision quantum sensing, quantum memory, and the preparation of macroscopic nonclassical states. Finally, we give an outlook and challenges in this field.

刘妮 LIU Ni, 王轩 WANG Xuan

Philipp Treutlein

This chapter gives an introduction to optomechanics with ultracold atoms. The opening half deals with optomechanical atom–light interactions. Section 9.2 introduces atom trapping. Section 9.3 discusses the properties of trapped atoms as mechanical oscillators. Section 9.4 describes optomechanical interactions, treating the atoms as polarizable particles, a model used in section 9.5 to derive optomechanical coupling of atoms and a cavity field and briefly review cavity optomechanics experiments with atoms in the quantum regime. The second half deals with hybrid mechanical-atomic systems. We start with an overview of different coupling mechanisms, then focus on light-mediated interactions and derive the coupling of a membrane to an ensemble of laser-cooled atoms. Section 9.8 reviews experiments on sympathetic cooling of a membrane with cold atoms, with perspectives for mechanical quantum control discussed in section 9.9. Section 9.10 introduces the possibilities that arise if the mechanical oscillator is coupled to the atomic internal state.

Zhaoyuan Ma, Kater W. Murch, Dan Stamper-Kurn

Lukas F. Buchmann