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arXiv:2009.02295 · Physical Review A

Master-equation treatment of nonlinear optomechanical systems with optical loss

Sofia Qvarfort, Michael Ross Vanner, P. F. Barker, David Edward Bruschi

Published Jul 2, 2021• 23 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Open-system dynamics play a key role in the experimental and theoretical study of cavity optomechanical systems. In many cases, the quantum Langevin equations have enabled excellent models for optical decoherence, yet a master-equation approach to the fully nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian has thus far proven more elusive. To address this outstanding question and broaden the mathematical tool set available, we derive a solution to the Lindblad master equation that models optical decoherence for a system evolving with the nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian. The method combines a Lie-algebra solution to the unitary dynamics with a vectorization of the Lindblad equation, and we demonstrate its applicability by considering the preparation of optical cat states via the optomechanical nonlinearity in the presence of optical loss. Our results provide a direct way of analytically assessing the impact of optical decoherence on the optomechanical intracavity state.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.104.013501

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Open-system dynamics play a key role in the experimental and theoretical study of cavity optomechanical systems. In many cases, the quantum Langevin equations have enabled excellent models for optical decoherence, yet a master-equation approach to the fully nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian has thus far proven more elusive. To address this outstanding question and broaden the mathematical tool set available, we derive a solution to the Lindblad master equation that models optical decoherence for a system evolving with the nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian. The method combines a Lie-algebra solution to the unitary dynamics with a vectorization of the Lindblad equation, and we demonstrate its applicability by considering the preparation of optical cat states via the optomechanical nonlinearity in the presence of optical loss. Our results provide a direct way of analytically assessing the impact of optical decoherence on the optomechanical intracavity state.
Abstract Nonclassical states are an important class of states in quantum mechanics, particularly for applications in quantum information theory. Optomechanical systems are invaluable platforms for exploring and harnessing these states. In this study, we focus on a mirror-in-the-middle optomechanical system. In the absence of losses, a separable state, composed of the product of coherent states, evolves into an entangled state. Furthermore, we demonstrate that generating a two-mode Schrödinger-cat state depends on the optomechanical coupling. Additionally, when the optical modes are uncoupled from the mechanical mode, we find no entanglement for certain nonzero optomechanical coupling intensities. We exactly solve the Gorini–Kossalokowinki–Sudarshan–Lindblad master equation, highlighting the direct influence of the reservoir on the dynamics when mechanical losses are considered. Then, we discuss vacuum one-photon superposition states to obtain exact entanglement dynamics using concurrence as a quantifier. Our results show that mechanical losses in the mirror attenuate the overall entanglement of the system.
Abstract The Lindblad form of the master equation has proven to be one of the most convenient ways to describe the impact of an environment interacting with a quantum system of interest. For single systems the jump operators characterizing these interactions usually take simple forms with a clear interpretation. However, for coupled systems these operators take significantly different forms and the full dynamics cannot be described by jump operators acting on the individual subsystems only. In this work, we investigate the differences between a common phenomenological model for the master equation and the more rigorous dressed-state master equation for optomechanical systems. We provide an analytical method to obtain the absorption spectrum of the system for both models and show the breakdown of the phenomenological model in both the bad cavity and the ultra-strong coupling limit. We present a careful discussion of the indirect dephasing of the optical cavity in both models and its role in the differences of their predicted absorption spectra. Our work provides a simple experimental test to determine whether the simpler phenomenological model can be used to describe the system and is a step forward toward a better understanding of the role of the coupling between subsystems for open-quantum-system dynamics.
This thesis focuses on the mathematical description and application of nonlinear cavity optomechanical systems. The first part is concerned with solving the dynamics of the standard nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian with an additional time-dependent mechanical displacement and single-mode squeezing term. The solution is based on identifying a Lie algebra that generates the time-evolution of the system, which reduces the problem to considering a finite set of coupled ordinary differential equations of real functions. The second part applies the solutions of the extended optomechanical Hamiltonian to the study of non-Gaussianity. We compute the non-Gaussian character of an optomechanical state as a function of the parameters in the Hamiltonian, and investigate the interplay between the non-Gaussianity, the strength of the nonlinear coupling and the strength of the single-mode mechanical squeezing term. We find that the strength and form of the nonlinear coupling strongly impacts the non-Gaussianity, and that its relationship with the squeezing term is highly complex. The third part concerns the use of nonlinear optomechanical systems as quantum sensors. We derive a general expression of the quantum Fisher information given the extended optomechanical Hamiltonian and demonstrate its applicability through three concrete examples: estimating the strength of a nonlinear light--matter coupling, the strength of a time-modulated mechanical displacement, and the strength of a single-mode mechanical squeezing parameter, all of which are modulated at resonance. In the last Chapter of the thesis, we consider the estimation of a constant gravitational acceleration with an optomechanical system. Our results suggest that optomechanical systems could, in principle, be used as powerful quantum sensors.
Ultrastrong light-matter interaction in an optomechanical system can result in nonlinear optical effects such as photon blockade. The system-bath couplings in such systems play an essential role in observing these effects. Here we study the quantum coherence of an optomechanical system with a dressed-state master equation approach. Our master equation includes photon-number-dependent terms that induce dephasing in this system. Cavity dephasing, second-order photon correlation, and two-cavity entanglement are studied with the dressed-state master equation.
The description of the optomechanical systems is commonly based on the quantum Langevin equation formalism. This framework is introduced phenomenologically or based on a model Hamiltonian. However, once dealing with the optomechanical Fabry-Perot cavity or the modified Michelson-Sagnac interferometer with a semitransparent mechanically active membrane inside, a model-free consideration is also possible by using an alternative approach. Such an approach, which is based on the classical wave equations, is popular in the gravitational-wave community where it is termed as input-output relations approach. In this work, using the aforementioned approach, we derived the equations for the ladder operator of the intracavity field, stochastic back-action force, and the relation between the fields at the input mirror. Then we simplified the obtained results down to the range of applicability of the Langevin equation formalism and compared these with the corresponding predictions of the latter formalism. This enabled us to critically assess the validity of the Langevin equation formalism and rectify its range of applicability to find that the latter is more stringent than that intuitively expected. In the case where the dissipative optomechanical coupling is involved we identified appreciable problems with this formalism. It was found that, disregarding the fact that decay rate of the optomechanical Fabry-Perot cavity depends on its length, no dissipative optomechanical coupling is generated. This is in contrast with the prediction of the standard Langevin-equation based treatment. It was found that the Langevin equation formalism misses a phase factor at the input field; this factor turns out to be important for the situation involving the dissipative optomechanical coupling.
Abstract We present a closed-form analytical solution to the eigenvalue problem of the Liouville operator generating the dissipative dynamics of the standard optomechanical system. The corresponding Lindblad master equation describes the dynamics of a single-mode field inside an optical cavity coupled by radiation pressure to its moving mirror. The optical field and the mirror are in contact with separate environments, which are assumed at zero and finite temperature, respectively. The optomechanical damping basis refers to the exact set of eigenvectors of the generator that, together with the exact eigenvalues, are explicitly derived. Both the weak- and the strong-coupling regime, which includes combined decay mechanisms, are solved in this work.