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arXiv:2204.08238 · Physical Review Research

Coherent resonant coupling between atoms and a mechanical oscillator mediated by cavity-vacuum fluctuations

Bo Wang, Jiaming Hu, Vincenzo Macrí, Ze-Liang Xiang, Franco Nori

Published Feb 2, 2023• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that an atom can be coupled to a mechanical oscillator via quantum vacuum fluctuations of a cavity field enabling energy transfer processes between them. In a hybrid quantum system consisting of a cavity resonator with a movable mirror and an atom, these processes are dominated by two pair-creation mechanisms: the counterrotating (atom-cavity system) and dynamical Casimir interaction terms (optomechanical system). Because of these two pair-creation mechanisms, the resonant atom-mirror coupling is the result of high-order virtual processes with different transition paths well described in our theoretical framework. We perform a unitary transformation to the atom-mirror system Hamiltonian, exhibiting two kinds of multiple-order transitions of the pair creation. By tuning the frequency of the atom, we show that photon frequency conversion can be realized within a cavity of multiple modes. Furthermore, when involving two atoms coupled to the same mechanical mode, a single vibrating excitation of the mechanical oscillator can be simultaneously absorbed by the two atoms. Considering recent advances in strong and ultrastrong coupling for cavity optomechanics and other systems, we believe our proposals can be implemented using available technology.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.5.013075

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We show that an atom can be coupled to a mechanical oscillator via quantum vacuum fluctuations of a cavity field enabling energy transfer processes between them. In a hybrid quantum system consisting of a cavity resonator with a movable mirror and an atom, these processes are dominated by two pair-creation mechanisms: the counterrotating (atom-cavity system) and dynamical Casimir interaction terms (optomechanical system). Because of these two pair-creation mechanisms, the resonant atom-mirror coupling is the result of high-order virtual processes with different transition paths well described in our theoretical framework. We perform a unitary transformation to the atom-mirror system Hamiltonian, exhibiting two kinds of multiple-order transitions of the pair creation. By tuning the frequency of the atom, we show that photon frequency conversion can be realized within a cavity of multiple modes. Furthermore, when involving two atoms coupled to the same mechanical mode, a single vibrating excitation of the mechanical oscillator can be simultaneously absorbed by the two atoms. Considering recent advances in strong and ultrastrong coupling for cavity optomechanics and other systems, we believe our proposals can be implemented using available technology.
We propose a scheme to realize frequency conversion of photons, using a hybrid system with a qubit coupled to both a resonator cavity and an optomechanical cavity. In this system, a high-energy photon can be converted into a low-energy photon plus a phonon and vice versa; the qubit works as an intermediate medium with its states unchanged. Moreover, the process can be exquisitely tuned by changing the frequency of the qubit or the resonator mode, providing additional control for the conversion. We further analyze the system dynamics and demonstrate two Rabi oscillation behaviors with dissipations. With the state-of-the-art techniques in cavity quantum electrodynamics and optomechanical systems, our proposal would be implemented and an efficient and controllable quantum light source can be achieved.
In this paper, we propose a new theoretical scheme for generating a macroscopic Schrödinger cat state of a mechanical oscillator in a hybrid optomechanical system where a beam of two-level atoms passes through the cavity. In the model under consideration, the cavity field couples to the macroscopic mirror through the optomechanical interaction while it couples to the atom through a generalized Jaynes–Cummings interaction that involves the cavity-mode structure. The motion of the mirror modifies the cavity-mode function and therefore modulates the atom-field interaction, leading to the three-mode atom-field-mirror coupling or, equivalently, polariton-mirror coupling in a dressed picture. This interaction induces a controllable anharmonicity in the energy spectrum of the mechanical oscillator, which provides the possibility of generating a superposition of two time-dependent coherent states of the mechanical oscillator just by performing a conditional measurement on the internal states of the atoms exiting the optomechanical cavity. We also investigate the tripartite atom-field-mirror entanglement, which is controllable by adjusting the parameters of the system. In addition, we explore the effects of the mechanical dissipation and thermal noise on the tripartite quantum correlation in the system as well as the generated mechanical superposition state.
This paper investigates a coupled cavity optomechanical system consisting of two Fabry-Perot cavities and the two cavities are coupled via an optical fiber.Every cavity is made of one fixed mirror and a movable mirror,and the movable mirror can be regarded as a mechanical oscillators.Meanwhile,the two cavity modes are driven by classical laser fields.So,the interaction is inevitable between cavities,cavity and moving mirror,cavity and classical field.Firstly,in order to eliminate the two cavity fields,an effective Hamiltonian of the two phonon modes is derived by means of picture transformation,adiabatic eliminating,and rotating wave approximation ignoring the high frequency items,etc.Secondly,if the two mechanical oscillators initially are in coherent states,the coupled mechanical oscillators can be used to transmit state.Finally,in order to verify the analytical result,the fidelity of quantum state is numevically simulated,the result shows that the quantum state can be transferred periodically between the two mechanical oscillators,which is the same as the analytical result.
Abstract In this study, we propose an experimental scheme to generate macroscopic quantum cat states of a mechanical oscillator within a hybrid atom-optomechanical system. The system consists of a mechanical oscillator harmonically coupled to an optical cavity, where the atom-cavity interaction operates in the ultrastrong-coupling regime described by the Rabi–Stark model. The cavity photon and atom state measurements project the mechanical mirror into cat states, with the process enhanced by Fock-state initialization, nonlinear atom-field coupling and modulated mechanical tuning. Wigner-function analysis confirms nonclassicality. The key findings are: (1) higher initial photon number n increases coherent-state amplitudes and separations of the cat states; (2) smaller detuning improves distinguishability; (3) both the nonlinear atom-photon coupling term and stronger optomechanical coupling accelerate the generation of cat states. This approach provides a parameter-tunable framework for quantum coherence control.
We consider two separate atoms interacting with a single-mode optical or microwave resonator. When the frequency of the resonator field is twice the atomic transition frequency, we show that there exists a resonant coupling between one photon and two atoms, via intermediate virtual states connected by counterrotating processes. If the resonator is prepared in its one-photon state, the photon can be jointly absorbed by the two atoms in their ground state which will both reach their excited state with a probability close to one. Like ordinary quantum Rabi oscillations, this process is coherent and reversible, so that two atoms in their excited state will undergo a downward transition jointly emitting a single cavity photon. This joint absorption and emission process can also occur with three atoms. The parameters used to investigate this process correspond to experimentally demonstrated values in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems.
Abstract We present a scheme to significantly enhance multipartite entanglement with an atom-assisted single-cavity optomechanical system. By embedding an ensemble of Λ-type three-level atoms into the cavity, the stationary tripartite entanglement among two longitudinal cavity modes and a mirror oscillation mode can be greatly enhanced due to quantum coherence induced between the two lower atomic states when one (another) cavity mode is driven at the red (blue) mechanical sideband, and both cavity modes are blue-detuned by the mechanical frequency to the respective atomic resonant transitions; moreover, strong light–light–atom–mirror quadripartite entanglement can also be obtained. The present hybrid system can serve as a promising platform for realizing various quantum protocols, and may find potential applications in quantum information processing and quantum networks.