Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1605.06541 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Multimode optomechanical system in the quantum regime

William Hvidtfelt Padkær Nielsen, Yeghishe Tsaturyan, C. Møller, Eugene Simon Polzik, Albert Schließer

Published Dec 20, 2016• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

) mechanical modes in a phononic-bandgap shielded membrane resonator. An optical mode of a compact Fabry-Perot resonator detects these modes' motion with a measurement rate (96 kHz) that exceeds the mechanical decoherence rates already at moderate cryogenic temperatures (10 K). Reaching this quantum regime entails, inter alia, quantum measurement backaction exceeding thermal forces and thus strong optomechanical quantum correlations. In particular, we observe ponderomotive squeezing of the output light mediated by a multitude of mechanical resonator modes, with quantum noise suppression up to -2.4 dB (-3.6 dB if corrected for detection losses) and bandwidths ≲90 kHz. The multimode nature of the membrane and Fabry-Perot resonators will allow multimode entanglement involving electromagnetic, mechanical, and spin degrees of freedom.

DOI
10.1073/pnas.1608412114

Related papers

Simultaneous ponderomotive squeezing of light by two mechanical modes in an optomechanical system

Peyman Malekzadeh, Emil Zeuthen, Eric Langman +2 more

We experimentally demonstrate a source of squeezed light featuring simultaneous ponderomotive squeezing from two mechanical modes of an optomechanical system. We use ultra-coherent vibrational modes (Q factors on the order of 108) of a soft-clamped membrane placed in a Fabry–Pérot optical cavity at cryogenic conditions (T=11K) to create correlations between amplitude and phase quadratures of the light field. As a result of the interaction between the membrane position and the light, we generated ponderomotive squeezing of 4.8dB for the first localized mechanical mode at 1.32MHz and 4.2dB for the second localized mode at 2.43MHz, as observed in direct detection when correcting for the detection inefficiency. Thus, we have demonstrated that by leveraging more than one quantum-limited mechanical mode, optomechanical squeezed light generation can be extended to dual-band operation with an ample band separation of about an octave. Utilizing homodyne detection to detect squeezing in an optimal quadrature would lead to squeezing levels at the output of the cavity of 7.3 dB and 6.8 dB, in the two modes, respectively. Squeezing of light demonstrated here for near-infrared light can be achieved in a broad range of wavelengths due to the relative insensitivity of optomechanical interaction with SiN membranes to the wavelength. The demonstrated dual-band squeezing can be linked to the generation of two photon–phonon entangled mode pairs, suggesting that our system, viewed as an entanglement source, is more resource-efficient than single-mode optomechanics.

arXiv:2412.03303•Optica Quantum•Sep 12, 2025•2 citations

Multimode optomechanics in the strong cooperativity regime : towards optomechanical entanglement with micromechanical membranes

Ramon Moghadas Nia

Quantum entanglement is an essential feature of quantum physics and an important resource for applications in quantum information processing and quantum communication, including prominent examples such as quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography, as well as for fundamental tests of quantum theory. This thesis explores the generation and verification of continuous wave optomechanical entanglement between a light mode and a multimode mechanical oscillator. The optomechanical system consists of a thin silicon nitride membrane placed within a high finesse Fabry-Pérot cavity. It is successively improved and verified to operate in the strong cooperativity regime, a necessary condition for the generation of entanglement. A pulsed-continuous verification protocol is applied to correlation measurements with strong cooperativity. The results demonstrate that the naive approach of filtering a single high-Q mode to obtain a witness for entanglement is not viable. The multimode nature of the mechanics has to be, and is, explicitly considered in the evaluations as well as spectral features of the detection scheme, thereby paving the way towards multimode optomechanical entanglement.

•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations

Hybrid optomechanical systems as transducers for quantum information

S. Deléglise, Thibault Capelle, T. Jacqmin +5 more

Summary form only given. The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate. An artist view of the device envisioned is depicted on Figure 1.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2017•0 citations

Thermomechanical Two-Mode Squeezing in an Ultrahigh- Q Membrane Resonator

Yogesh Sharad Patil, Srivatsan Chakram, Laura J. Chang +1 more

We realize a quantum-compatible multimode interaction in an ultrahigh Q mechanical resonator via a reservoir-mediated parametric coupling. We use this interaction to demonstrate nondegenerate parametric amplification and thermomechanical noise squeezing, finding excellent agreement with a theoretical model of this interaction over a large dynamic range. This realization of strong multimode nonlinearities in a mechanical platform compatible with quantum-limited optical detection and cooling makes this a powerful system for nonlinear approaches to quantum metrology, transduction between optical and phononic fields, and the quantum manipulation of phononic degrees of freedom.

arXiv:1410.7109•Physical Review Letters•Jun 29, 2015•60 citations

Hybrid optomechanical systems as transducers for quantum information

S. Deléglise, Thibault Capelle, Chen Xu +6 more

The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate.

Quantum Information and Measurement (QIM)•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Quantum optomechanics at room temperature

H. Schütz

Why are classical theories often sufficient to describe the physics of our world even though everything around us is entirely composed of microscopic quantum systems? The boundary between these two fundamentally dissimilar theories remains an unsolved problem in modern physics. Position measurements of small objects allow us to probe the area where the classical approximation breaks down. In quantum mechanics, Heisenbergâ s uncertainty principle dictates that any measurement of the position must be accompanied by measurement induced back-action---in this case manifested as an uncertainty in the momentum. In recent years, cavity optomechanics has become a powerful tool to perform precise position measurements and investigate their fundamental limitations. The utilization of optical micro-cavities greatly enhances the interaction between light and state-of-the-art nanomechanical oscillators. Therefore, quantum mechanical phenomena have been successfully observed in systems far beyond the microscopic world. In such a cavity optomechanical system, the fluctuations in the position of the oscillator are transduced onto the phase of the light, while fluctuations in the amplitude of the light disturb the momentum of the oscillator during the measurement. As a consequence, correlations are established between the amplitude and phase quadrature of the probe light. However, so far, observation of quantum effects has been limited exclusively to cryogenic experiments, and access to the quantum regime at room temperature has remained an elusive goal because the overwhelming amount of thermal motion masks the weak quantum effects. This thesis describes the engineering of a high-performance cavity optomechanical device and presents experimental results showing, for the first time, the broadband effects of quantum back-action at room temperature. The device strongly couples mechanical and optical modes of exceptionally high quality factors to provide a measurement sensitivity $\sim\!10^4$ times below the requirement to resolve the zero-point fluctuations of the mechanical oscillator. The quantum back-action is then observed through the correlations created between the probe light and the motion of the nanomechanical oscillator. A so-called â variational measurementâ , which detects the transmitted light in a homodyne detector tuned close to the amplitude quadrature, resolves the quantum noise due to these correlations at the level of 10\% of the thermal noise over more than an octave of Fourier frequencies around mechanical resonance. Moreover, building on this result, an additional experiment demonstrates the ability to achieve quantum enhanced metrology. In this case, the generated quantum correlations are used to cancel quantum noise in the measurement record, which then leads to an improved relative signal-to-noise ratio in measurements of an external force. In conclusion, the successful observation of broadband quantum behavior on a macroscopic object at room temperature is an important milestone in the field of cavity optomechanics. Specifically, this result heralds the rise of optomechanical systems as a platform for quantum physics at room temperature and shows promise for generation of ponderomotive squeezing in room-temperature interferometers.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations
) mechanical modes in a phononic-bandgap shielded membrane resonator. An optical mode of a compact Fabry-Perot resonator detects these modes' motion with a measurement rate (96 kHz) that exceeds the mechanical decoherence rates already at moderate cryogenic temperatures (10 K). Reaching this quantum regime entails, inter alia, quantum measurement backaction exceeding thermal forces and thus strong optomechanical quantum correlations. In particular, we observe ponderomotive squeezing of the output light mediated by a multitude of mechanical resonator modes, with quantum noise suppression up to -2.4 dB (-3.6 dB if corrected for detection losses) and bandwidths ≲90 kHz. The multimode nature of the membrane and Fabry-Perot resonators will allow multimode entanglement involving electromagnetic, mechanical, and spin degrees of freedom.
We experimentally demonstrate a source of squeezed light featuring simultaneous ponderomotive squeezing from two mechanical modes of an optomechanical system. We use ultra-coherent vibrational modes (Q factors on the order of 108) of a soft-clamped membrane placed in a Fabry–Pérot optical cavity at cryogenic conditions (T=11K) to create correlations between amplitude and phase quadratures of the light field. As a result of the interaction between the membrane position and the light, we generated ponderomotive squeezing of 4.8dB for the first localized mechanical mode at 1.32MHz and 4.2dB for the second localized mode at 2.43MHz, as observed in direct detection when correcting for the detection inefficiency. Thus, we have demonstrated that by leveraging more than one quantum-limited mechanical mode, optomechanical squeezed light generation can be extended to dual-band operation with an ample band separation of about an octave. Utilizing homodyne detection to detect squeezing in an optimal quadrature would lead to squeezing levels at the output of the cavity of 7.3 dB and 6.8 dB, in the two modes, respectively. Squeezing of light demonstrated here for near-infrared light can be achieved in a broad range of wavelengths due to the relative insensitivity of optomechanical interaction with SiN membranes to the wavelength. The demonstrated dual-band squeezing can be linked to the generation of two photon–phonon entangled mode pairs, suggesting that our system, viewed as an entanglement source, is more resource-efficient than single-mode optomechanics.
Quantum entanglement is an essential feature of quantum physics and an important resource for applications in quantum information processing and quantum communication, including prominent examples such as quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography, as well as for fundamental tests of quantum theory. This thesis explores the generation and verification of continuous wave optomechanical entanglement between a light mode and a multimode mechanical oscillator. The optomechanical system consists of a thin silicon nitride membrane placed within a high finesse Fabry-Pérot cavity. It is successively improved and verified to operate in the strong cooperativity regime, a necessary condition for the generation of entanglement. A pulsed-continuous verification protocol is applied to correlation measurements with strong cooperativity. The results demonstrate that the naive approach of filtering a single high-Q mode to obtain a witness for entanglement is not viable. The multimode nature of the mechanics has to be, and is, explicitly considered in the evaluations as well as spectral features of the detection scheme, thereby paving the way towards multimode optomechanical entanglement.
Summary form only given. The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate. An artist view of the device envisioned is depicted on Figure 1.
We realize a quantum-compatible multimode interaction in an ultrahigh Q mechanical resonator via a reservoir-mediated parametric coupling. We use this interaction to demonstrate nondegenerate parametric amplification and thermomechanical noise squeezing, finding excellent agreement with a theoretical model of this interaction over a large dynamic range. This realization of strong multimode nonlinearities in a mechanical platform compatible with quantum-limited optical detection and cooling makes this a powerful system for nonlinear approaches to quantum metrology, transduction between optical and phononic fields, and the quantum manipulation of phononic degrees of freedom.
The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate.
Why are classical theories often sufficient to describe the physics of our world even though everything around us is entirely composed of microscopic quantum systems? The boundary between these two fundamentally dissimilar theories remains an unsolved problem in modern physics. Position measurements of small objects allow us to probe the area where the classical approximation breaks down. In quantum mechanics, Heisenbergâ s uncertainty principle dictates that any measurement of the position must be accompanied by measurement induced back-action---in this case manifested as an uncertainty in the momentum. In recent years, cavity optomechanics has become a powerful tool to perform precise position measurements and investigate their fundamental limitations. The utilization of optical micro-cavities greatly enhances the interaction between light and state-of-the-art nanomechanical oscillators. Therefore, quantum mechanical phenomena have been successfully observed in systems far beyond the microscopic world. In such a cavity optomechanical system, the fluctuations in the position of the oscillator are transduced onto the phase of the light, while fluctuations in the amplitude of the light disturb the momentum of the oscillator during the measurement. As a consequence, correlations are established between the amplitude and phase quadrature of the probe light. However, so far, observation of quantum effects has been limited exclusively to cryogenic experiments, and access to the quantum regime at room temperature has remained an elusive goal because the overwhelming amount of thermal motion masks the weak quantum effects. This thesis describes the engineering of a high-performance cavity optomechanical device and presents experimental results showing, for the first time, the broadband effects of quantum back-action at room temperature. The device strongly couples mechanical and optical modes of exceptionally high quality factors to provide a measurement sensitivity ∼ ⁣104\sim\!10^4∼104 times below the requirement to resolve the zero-point fluctuations of the mechanical oscillator. The quantum back-action is then observed through the correlations created between the probe light and the motion of the nanomechanical oscillator. A so-called â variational measurementâ , which detects the transmitted light in a homodyne detector tuned close to the amplitude quadrature, resolves the quantum noise due to these correlations at the level of 10\% of the thermal noise over more than an octave of Fourier frequencies around mechanical resonance. Moreover, building on this result, an additional experiment demonstrates the ability to achieve quantum enhanced metrology. In this case, the generated quantum correlations are used to cancel quantum noise in the measurement record, which then leads to an improved relative signal-to-noise ratio in measurements of an external force. In conclusion, the successful observation of broadband quantum behavior on a macroscopic object at room temperature is an important milestone in the field of cavity optomechanics. Specifically, this result heralds the rise of optomechanical systems as a platform for quantum physics at room temperature and shows promise for generation of ponderomotive squeezing in room-temperature interferometers.