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arXiv:2603.10665 · Physical Review Research

Dressed-State Optomechanics in the Few-Photon Regime

Surangana Sengupta, Björn Kubala, Joachim Ankerhold, Ciprian Padurariu

quant-phSubmitted Mar 11, 2026• Announced Mar 12, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Efficient optomechanical cooling typically requires high photon occupancy to maximize cooling power, a constraint that generally limits the degree of coherent quantum control available in the few-photon regime. Here, we investigate this trade-off by considering a strongly nonlinear cavity operated as a discrete quantum system. In the weak-coupling limit, we derive a general connection between the optomechanical damping rate and the cavity's dressed-state manifold. This framework reveals that the damping rate (determined by the population imbalance across dressed states) is directly tunable via the coherent manipulation tools which are standard in circuit quantum electrodynamics. We illustrate this framework using a Josephson photonics architecture, where a dc-biased junction induces a photon blockade that truncates the cavity to an $N$-level system. By sacrificing raw cooling (or heating) power, this platform enables full quantum mechanical control over optomechanical properties, offering a versatile avenue for the quantum manipulation of mechanical modes.

DOI
10.1103/2pg1-7jrl
Comments
11 Pages, 4 figures

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Efficient optomechanical cooling typically requires high photon occupancy to maximize cooling power, a constraint that generally limits the degree of coherent quantum control available in the few-photon regime. Here, we investigate this trade-off by considering a strongly nonlinear cavity operated as a discrete quantum system. In the weak-coupling limit, we derive a general connection between the optomechanical damping rate and the cavity's dressed-state manifold. This framework reveals that the damping rate (determined by the population imbalance across dressed states) is directly tunable via the coherent manipulation tools which are standard in circuit quantum electrodynamics. We illustrate this framework using a Josephson photonics architecture, where a dc-biased junction induces a photon blockade that truncates the cavity to an NNN-level system. By sacrificing raw cooling (or heating) power, this platform enables full quantum mechanical control over optomechanical properties, offering a versatile avenue for the quantum manipulation of mechanical modes.
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Abstract Recent advancements in strong single-photon optomechanical coupling also demand a deeper understanding of environmental interactions in this regime. In this regime the standard Lindblad master equation, which is derived in the eigenbasis of the bare optical and mechanical modes, misassigns the dephasing rate. We therefore use the dressed-state master equation, which is formulated in the eigenbasis of the strongly coupled photon–phonon Hamiltonian, the dressed states of the system. This work investigates the impact of squeezed vacuum and thermal reservoirs on the decoherence of cavity photon Fock states in the strong coupling regime. We demonstrate that decoherence can be effectively controlled by tuning reservoir parameters, with the control mediated through a cavity dephasing term that becomes significant at high temperatures. The findings presented provide critical insights into reservoir engineering for precise control of quantum decoherence, advancing the understanding of strongly coupled optomechanical systems in engineered environments.
Abstract It is well known that some nonlinear phenomena such as strong photon blockade are difficult to observe in optomechanical systems with current experimental technology. Here we present a coherent feedback control strategy in which a linear cavity is coherently controlled by an optomechanical controller in a feedback manner. The coherent feedback loop transfers quantum nonlinearity from the controller to the controlled cavity causing destructive quantum interference to occur, and making it possible to observe strong nonlinear effects. With the help of the coherent feedback loop, large and tunable bistability and strong photon blockade of the cavity modes can be achieved even in the optomechanical weak coupling regime. Additionally, the coherent feedback loop leads to two-photon and multiphoton tunnelings for the controlled linear cavity, which are also typical quantum nonlinear phenomena. We hope that our work can give new perspectives on engineering nonlinear interactions in quantum systems.
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