To search for and exploit quantum manifestations of classical nonlinear dynamics is one of the most fundamental problems in physics. Using optomechanical systems as a paradigm, we address this problem from the perspective of quantum entanglement. We uncover strong fingerprints in the quantum entanglement of two common types of classical nonlinear dynamical behaviors: periodic oscillations and quasiperiodic motion. There is a transition from the former to the latter as an experimentally adjustable parameter is changed through a critical value. Accompanying this process, except for a small region about the critical value, the degree of quantum entanglement shows a trend of continuous increase. The time evolution of the entanglement measure, e.g., logarithmic negativity, exhibits a strong dependence on the nature of classical nonlinear dynamics, constituting its signature.
To search for and exploit quantum manifestations of classical nonlinear dynamics is one of the most fundamental problems in physics. Using optomechanical systems as a paradigm, we address this problem from the perspective of quantum entanglement. We uncover strong fingerprints in the quantum entanglement of two common types of classical nonlinear dynamical behaviors: periodic oscillations and quasiperiodic motion. There is a transition from the former to the latter as an experimentally adjustable parameter is changed through a critical value. Accompanying this process, except for a small region about the critical value, the degree of quantum entanglement shows a trend of continuous increase. The time evolution of the entanglement measure, e.g., logarithmic negativity, exhibits a strong dependence on the nature of classical nonlinear dynamics, constituting its signature.
Cavity optomechanical systems involving an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) can exhibit rich classical and quantum dynamical behaviors. By simply modulating the frequency of the laser pumping the OPA, we find two interesting parameter regimes, with one of them enabling us to study quantum-classical correspondence in system dynamics, while there exist no classical counterparts of the quantum features for the other. For the detuning of the laser pumping around the mechanical frequency, as the parametric gain of OPA increases to a critical value, the classical dynamics of the optical or mechanical modes can experience a transition from the regular periodic oscillation to a period-doubling motion, in which case the light-mechanical entanglement can be well studied by the logarithmic negativity and can manifest the dynamical transition the classical nonlinear dynamics. In addition, the optomechanical entanglement shows a second-order transition characteristic at the critical parametric gain. For the laser detuning being about twice the mechanical frequency, the kind of normal mode splitting comes up in the laser detuning dependence of optomechanical entanglement, which is induced by the squeezing of the optical and mechanical hybrid modes and finds no classical correspondence. The OPA-assisted optomechanical systems therefore offer a simple way to study and exploit quantum manifestations of classical nonlinear dynamics.
We theoretically study the dynamics of the ground-state cooling and the quantum entanglement in a modulated optomechanical system, where the frequency of the mechanical oscillator and the optical field or the strength of the driving laser is time dependent. In this paper, we focus mainly on the fact that the system works in the regime of blue detuning. It is found that in the long-time limit the steady-state phonon number can be decreased significantly so that the mechanical oscillator is cooled to the ground state by appropriately selecting the frequency and the amplitude of the modulation. Further, with the help of the dynamical modulation in the system, the time evolution of the entanglement preevaluation value displays the death and rebirth of quantum entanglement between the mechanical oscillator and the optical field, which correspond, respectively, to the increase and decrease of the effective phonon number of the mechanical oscillator. In particular, when the steady-state dynamics of the system is quasiperiodic, the dynamics of the entanglement preevaluation value exhibits a quasiperiodic behavior, which means that the quantum phenomena can be represented in nonlinear classical dynamics.
We study the entanglement dynamics of two coupled mechanical oscillators, within a modulated optomechanical system. We find that, depending on the strength of the mechanical coupling, one could observe either a stationary or a dynamical behavior of the mechanical entanglement, which is extremely robust against the oscillator temperature. Moreover, we have shown that this entanglement dynamics is strongly related to the stability of the normal modes. Taking mechanical damping effects into account, an analytical expression corresponding to the critical mechanical coupling strength, where the transition from stationary to dynamical entanglement occurs, is also reported. The proposed scheme is analyzed with experimentally realistic parameters, making it a promising means to realize macroscopic quantum entanglement within current state-of-the-art experimental setups.
The nonlinear dynamics of a mechanical resonator in an optomechanical system with linear, quadratic and cubic photon-vibration interactions (with respect to mechanical displacements) in a modulated driving field under conditions of adiabatic elimination of the optical field is studied. Based on the constructed bifurcation diagrams of the mechanical coordinate and the largest Lyapunov exponent as a function of the modulation amplitude, as well as power spectra, phase portraits and Poincare sections, regions of regular and chaotic dynamics of the optomechanical system are identified. It is also shown that for a certain modulation amplitude in the presence of all three types of interactions, chaotic dynamics of the mechanical resonator (oscillator) is realized, which is replaced by quasi-periodic oscillations in the absence of cubic interaction, and the system returns to chaotic behavior if only linear interaction remains. This non-monotonic dependence of chaotic dynamics on the order of nonlinearity originates from the interplay between parametric driving and effective potential reshaping and manifests that nonlinearity does not always enhance chaos. For an optomechanical system in a membrane-in-the-middle configuration, where only quadratic photon-vibration interaction is present, it is demonstrated that at small modulation amplitudes the mechanical oscillator exhibits quasi-periodic motion in each of the wells of a symmetric two-minimum potential, whereas large modulation amplitudes lead to chaotic motion, involving interwell transitions.
Optomechanical systems are currently of great interest as they lie at the boundary between quantum and classical mechanics, promising fundamental insights as well as new technologies. The practical operation of an optomechanical system requires that it satisfy the criteria of mechanical stability. Further, for quantum applications, it is important to characterize the degree of nonclassical correlation present between the mechanical and optical subsystems. In this study, we analyze the stability and entanglement in an optomechanical system where couplings linear as well as quadratic in the mechanical displacement are present simultaneously. Such systems can be realized experimentally. Our analysis of the optomechanical system is accomplished by inspecting the equations of motion that characterize the system. By analyzing the steady state of the system, we find a stability diagram which differs dramatically from the case of pure linear coupling which has been studied earlier. Specifically, we find generally a major loss of stability and a disconnection of the stability diagram when a quadratic coupling is introduced. We derive and state analytically in this thesis the stability criteria for our more generalized system. Further, by linearizing the equations of motion, we characterize the entanglement present in the system, using the logarithmic negativity as a measure. We thereby characterize the changes in the system entanglement that result from the addition of a quadratic coupling to a linearly coupled system.
In the field of optomechanics, one typically studies the interaction of a single mechanical resonator and a single optical cavity mode. In this thesis, we investigate collective quantum effects in optomechanical systems with two or more optical and mechanical modes. First, we study the generation and destruction of entanglement between two mechanical resonators effected by optical cavity fields. We also describe how the optomechanical interaction can be employed to mediate strong coherent coupling and entanglement between a micromechanical membrane and a single atom. Secondly, we show that a configuration with two optical and a single mechanical mode can lead to enhanced nonlinear interactions, which can be exploited for quantum non-demolition measurements of the phonon and photon numbers. Finally, we explore the quantum many-body dynamics of optomechanical arrays. In particular, we research into the transition from a disordered state due to quantum noise to a state with phasecoherent mechanical oscillations. As an intermediate step towards this study, we also investigate the nonlinear classical dynamics of single- and multi-mode optomechanical setups and compare theoretical predictions to experimental data.