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arXiv:2605.09914

Two-Phonon Resonance Drives Multicomponent Mechanical Cat States

Nuo Wang, Haoyang Zhang, Yu Tian, Yadi Niu, Ying Gu

quant-phSubmitted May 11, 2026• Announced May 12, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Using quadratic optomechanical coupling to prepare high-purity mechanical cat states is not feasible as its strength is several orders weaker than linear optomechanical coupling. Here, using only linear coupling in a multimode system, we achieve strong interaction between photons and two phonons, enabling the deterministic generation of high-purity multicomponent mechanical cats. Mediated by an auxiliary supermode, when other two optical supermodes satisfy the two-phonon resonance condition, the process whereby the annihilation of a high-frequency photon accompanied by the creation of a low-frequency photon and two phonons is strongly enhanced. Such resonant two-phonon process drives multiple rotations and interferences of mechanical coherent states, deterministically generating a multicomponent mechanical cat immune to both mechanical and optical losses. Our work provides an universal strategy for enhancing high-order phonon nonlinearities, paving the way for quantum state engineering, quantum precision measurement and fault-tolerant quantum computation.

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