We consider a generic optomechanical system and investigate quantum entanglement between the outgoing light fields and the mechanical motion of the mirror. In contract to traditional approach, we do not consider quantum correlations between the intracavity optical mode and the mechanical motion of a mirror, rather the correlations between the continuum of optical fields in the outgoing light wave and the mechanical degree of freedom. This entanglement is shown to be robust to thermal decoherence and depend on the ratio of measurement strength (light power) and decoherence rate ∝ T/Qm. Furthermore, we describe a feasible way to demonstrate quantum state steering, usinging time-variable homodyne detection scheme that allows to evade back-action. An intimate connection between optomechanical steerability and quantum state tomography [Phys. Rev. A 81, 012114 (2010)] is demonstrated.
We consider a generic optomechanical system and investigate quantum entanglement between the outgoing light fields and the mechanical motion of the mirror. In contract to traditional approach, we do not consider quantum correlations between the intracavity optical mode and the mechanical motion of a mirror, rather the correlations between the continuum of optical fields in the outgoing light wave and the mechanical degree of freedom. This entanglement is shown to be robust to thermal decoherence and depend on the ratio of measurement strength (light power) and decoherence rate ∝ T/Qm. Furthermore, we describe a feasible way to demonstrate quantum state steering, usinging time-variable homodyne detection scheme that allows to evade back-action. An intimate connection between optomechanical steerability and quantum state tomography [Phys. Rev. A 81, 012114 (2010)] is demonstrated.
We show that optomechanical systems in the quantum regime can be used to demonstrate EPR-type quantum entanglement between the optical field and the mechanical oscillator, via quantum-state steering. Namely, the conditional quantum state of the mechanical oscillator can be steered into different quantum states depending the choice made on which quadrature of the out-going field is to be measured via homodyne detection. More specifically, if quantum radiation pressure force dominates over thermal force, the oscillator's quantum state is steerable with a photodetection efficiency as low as 50%, approaching the ideal limit shown by Wiseman and Gambetta [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 108}, 220402 (2012)]. We also show that requirement for steerability is the same as those for achieving sub-Heisenberg state tomography using the same experimental setup.
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is a quantum nonlocal effect which is intrinsically distinct from Bell nonlocality and quantum entanglement. In this paper, we investigate in detail the properties of steady-state light-mechanical Gaussian steerable correlations in a generic cavity optomechanical system. When considering the steering between the intracavity field and the mechanical oscillator, we find that under blue-detuned driving, the steady-state steering via optomechanical parametric downconversion is present in only one direction and, moreover, the steering direction is determined merely by the relative dissipation strength of the cavity to the mechanics. Furthermore, when considering the steering between the cavity output field and the mechanical oscillator, we reveal that under red-detuned driving, strong steering can be achieved in the sideband-unresolved regime for a filtered output field with given central frequency and bandwidth. This steering with the output field can also be present in one way by adjusting the driving strength and exists up to the environment temperature $T\ensuremath{\approx}10$ K for the parameters close to those in the recent experiments. Finally, we show that the achieved strong light-mechanical correlations can be explored to realize macroscopic EPR steering of two distant optomechanical oscillators in the regime of unresolved sidebands via entanglement swapping.
We use a microscopic model, the mirror-oscillator-field (MOF) model proposed by C. R. Galley, R. O. Behunin, and B. L. Hu [Phys. Rev. A 87, 043832 (2013)], to describe the quantum entanglement between a mirror's center-of-mass (c.m.) motion and a field. In contrast with the conventional approach where the mirror-field entanglement is understood as arising from the radiation pressure of an optical field inducing the motion of the mirror's c.m., the MOF model incorporates the dynamics of the internal degrees of freedom of the mirror that couple to the optical field directly. The major advantage in this approach is that it provides a self-consistent treatment of the three pertinent subsystems (the mirror's c.m. motion, its internal degrees of freedom, and the field) including their back-actions on each other, thereby giving a more accurate account of the quantum correlations between the individual subsystems. The optical and the mechanical properties of a mirror arising from its dynamical interaction with a quantum field are obtained without imposing any boundary conditions on the field additionally, as is done in the conventional way. As one of the new physical features that arise from this self-consistent treatment of the coupled optics and mechanics behavior we observe a coherent transfer of quantum correlations from the field to the mirror via its internal degrees of freedom. We find the quantum entanglement between the optical field and the mirror's center-of-mass motion upon coarse-graining over the internal degree of freedom. Further, we show that in certain parameter regimes the mirror-field entanglement is enhanced when the field interacts resonantly with the mirror's internal degree of freedom, a result which highlights the importance of including the internal structure of the mirror in quantum optomechanical considerations.
Multipartite quantum entanglement is a key resource for ensuring security in quantum network. We show that by using a unified parameter in terms of reduced noise variances one can determine different types of tripartite entanglement of a given state generated in a hybrid optomechanical system, where an atomic ensemble is located inside a single-mode cavity with a movable mirror, with different thresholds for each type. In particular, the special quantum states which allow both entanglement and steering genuinely shared among atom-light-mirror modes can be observed, even though there is no direct interaction between the mirror and the atomic ensemble. We further show the robustness against mechanical thermal noise and damping, the relaxation time of atomic ensemble, as well as the effect of gain factors involved in the criteria. Our analysis provides an experimentally achievable method to determine the type of tripartite quantum correlation in a way.
We study a microscopic model, the Mirror-Oscillator-Field (MOF) model proposed in [1], for describing optomechanical interactions. In contrast with the conventional approach where the mirror-field interaction is understood as arising from the radiation pressure of an optical field inducing the motion of the mirror’s CoM, the MOF model incorporates the dynamics of the internal degrees of freedom of the mirror that couple to the optical field directly. Considering the mirror’s internal and mechanical degrees of freedom as two separate degrees of freedom we derive the optomechanical properties of the coupled mirror and field system. The major advantage in this approach is that it provides a self-consistent treatment of the three relevant subsystems (the mirror’s motion, its internal degrees of freedom and the field) including their back-actions on each other, thereby giving a more accurate account of the coupled internal and external dynamics. The optical and the mechanical properties of a mirror arising from its dynamical interaction with the field are obtained without imposing any boundary conditions on the field additionally, as is done in the conventional way. We find that our results agree with those from the boundary condition approach in the appropriate limits and more generally the model provides a framework within which one can study optomechanical elements with different internal structures and mechanical properties, which makes it suited for studying hybrid systems. Considering the quantum dynamics of the coupled subsystems we look at the entanglement between the mirror’s motion and the field, showing that the internal degrees of the mirror, in the appropriate parameter regimes, can act as a means to coherently transfer quantum correlations between the field and the mechanics thus leading to a larger optomechanical entanglement. We then use the MOF model to study the entanglement between the motion of an atom and a field for the setup in [95] and find a larger optomechanical entanglement when the field is closer to the internal resonance. We also study the interaction between two mirrors as described by the MOF model, specifically looking at the entanglement between the motion of their centers of mass. Conclusively, we see that including the dynamics of the internal degrees of freedom of a mirror, which is the quintessential mediator of interaction between the mirror center of mass and the field, leads to qualitatively different physics, specifically in the quantum regime, thus giving a physically more complete treatment of mirror-field interactions.
Abstract In this paper, we propose a continuous measurement and feedback scheme to achieve strong Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering and Bell nonlocality of two macroscopic mechanical oscillators in cavity optomechanics. Our system consists of two optomechanical cavities in which two cavity fields are coupled to each other via nondegenerate parametric downconversion. The two cavity output fields are subject to continuous Bell-like homodyne detection and the detection currents are fed back to drive the cavity fields. It is found that when the feedback is absent, the two mechanical oscillators can only be prepared in steady weakly entangled states which however do not display EPR steering and Bell nonlocality, due to the so-called 3 dB limit. But when the feedback is present, it is found that the mechanical entanglement is considerably enhanced such that strong mechanical steering and Bell nonlocality can be obtained in the steady-state regime. We analytically reveal that this is because the feedback drives the mechanical oscillators into a steady approximate two-mode squeezed vacuum state, with arbitrary squeezing in principle. It is shown that the feedback can also obviously improve the purity of the nonclassical mechanical states. The dependences of the mechanical quantum nonlocality on the feedback strength and thermal fluctuations are studied, and it is found that Bell nonlocality is much more vulnerable to thermal noise than EPR steerable nonlocality.