Low-Loss Optomechanical Oscillator for Quantum-Optics Experiments

Borrielli, A.; Pontin, A.; Cataliotti, F. S.; Marconi, Lorenzo; Marín, F.; Marino, Francesco; Pandraud, G.; Prodi, G. A.; Serra, Enrico; Bonaldi, M.

doi:10.1103/physrevapplied.3.054009

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, all nested resonators fabricated without any obvious physical defects had quality factors between 300,000 and 500,000. The highest quality factor achieved was 481,000 ± 12,000, an order of magnitude larger than for comparable silicon devices at room temperature [24]. Typical quality factor measurements for an inner and outer resonator are shown in Figure 4.…”

Section: Mountingmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Due to the large size of phononic crystals at the frequency of our devices (about 250 kHz), we have selected to sur- * Electronic address: mweaver@physics.ucsb.edu † Now at: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA round our devices with a low frequency outer resonator. We significantly improve on the design of similar devices using silicon optomechanical resonators [24] by using a lower frequency outer resonator and silicon nitride with weaker spring constant. Weaker spring constants lead to higher optomechanical coupling, a requirement for our future experiments.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nested trampoline resonators for optomechanics

Weaver

Pepper

Luna

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Letters

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Two major challenges in the development of optomechanical devices are achieving a low mechanical and optical loss rate and vibration isolation from the environment. We address both issues by fabricating trampoline resonators made from low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) Si3N4 with a distributed bragg reflector (DBR) mirror. We design a nested double resonator structure with 80 dB of mechanical isolation from the mounting surface at the inner resonator frequency, and we demonstrate up to 45 dB of isolation at lower frequencies in agreement with the design. We reliably fabricate devices with mechanical quality factors of around 400,000 at room temperature. In addition these devices were used to form optical cavities with finesse up to 181,000 ± 1,000. These promising parameters will enable experiments in the quantum regime with macroscopic mechanical resonators.In recent years there has been tremendous growth in the field of optomechanics [1, 2]. The interaction of light and mechanical motion has been used to demonstrate such phenomena as ground state cooling of a mechanical resonator [3][4][5], optomechanically induced transparency [6][7][8], and entanglement of a mechanical resonator with an electromagnetic field [9]. Another proposed application of optomechanics is testing the concept of quantum superpositions in large mass systems [10]. All of these experiments require low optical and mechanical loss rates. In this letter we will focus on our efforts to produce a large mass mechanical resonator with both high mechanical and optical quality factor, which can realistically be cooled to its ground state.There are several requirements for the devices to achieve this. The system must be sideband resolved for optical sideband cooling to the ground state [11,12]. A high mechanical quality factor is also necessary to generate a higher cooperativity and a lower mechanical mode temperature for the same cooling laser power. Furthermore, in the quantum regime, the quality factor sets the timescale of environmentally induced decoherence [13], which is crucial for proposed future experiments. Therefore, it is important to eliminate mechanical and optical loss sources.One major source of loss in mechanical systems is clamping loss, which is coupling to external mechanical modes [14][15][16]. As we will show, this is a critical source of loss for Si 3 N 4 trampoline resonators. Several methods of mechanically isolating a device from clamping loss have been demonstrated including phononic crystals [17,18] and low frequency mechanical resonators [19][20][21][22][23]. Due to the large size of phononic crystals at the frequency of our devices (about 250 kHz), we have selected to sur- * Electronic address: mweaver@physics.ucsb.edu † Now at: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA round our devices with a low frequency outer resonator. We significantly improve on the design of similar devices using silicon optomechanical resonators [24] by using...

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Section: Mountingmentioning

confidence: 88%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nested trampoline resonators for optomechanics

Weaver

Pepper

Luna

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Letters

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“…1(d). The device is realized by through-thickness fabrication of a silicon-oninsulator wafer with standard microelectromechanical systems technology [22,25].…”

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confidence: 99%

Control of recoil losses in nanomechanical SiN membrane resonators

et al. 2016

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In the context of a recoil damping analysis, we have designed and produced a membrane resonator equipped with a specific on-chip structure working as a "loss shield" for a circular membrane. In this device the vibrations of the membrane, with a quality factor of 10 7 , reach the limit set by the intrinsic dissipation in silicon nitride, for all the modes and regardless of the modal shape, also at low frequency. Guided by our theoretical model of the loss shield, we describe the design rationale of the device, which can be used as effective replacement of commercial membrane resonators in advanced optomechanical setups, also at cryogenic temperatures. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.121403 Since the first demonstrations of use in an optical cavity [1,2], membrane resonators have widely spread in optomechanical experiments, both as isolated mechanical oscillators and as components of hybrid systems. Their striking optical and mechanical properties allowed the observation of quantum effects induced by optomechanical interaction in the behavior of nano-oscillators [3] and in the properties of radiation itself [4].Currently, membrane-based resonators represent a flexible tool for a wide range of scientific and technological goals: interfacing radiation at very different wavelengths [5,6], implementing hybrid mechanical-atomic systems [7], fixing significant constraints on quantum gravity theories [8], and studying multimode optomechanical systems in the quantum regime [9]. These developments motivate a strong commitment to improving the performance of membrane-based oscillators. We address here the issue of mechanical losses in high stress silicon nitride (SiN) membranes, proposing a perspective which allows us to realize a "loss shield" for the membrane resonator.SiN membrane-based devices have many mechanical resonances with frequencies starting from 0.1 MHz, with intrinsic losses well described by a model [10] where the elastic constant K includes an imaginary part, K = k(1 + iφ), with φ = 1/Q the loss angle and Q the quality factor. Though the intrinsic quality factor is in the range 10 6 -10 8 , depending on dimensions and temperature, the loss through the supporting substrate can reduce this figure by several orders of magnitude. This phenomenon is more pronounced for the lower frequency resonances, which would be the most suitable for the experimental optomechanics as higher order resonances are surrounded by numerous neighboring resonances [11]. An additional problem is the poor reproducibility of the loss * bonaldi@science.unitn.it contributed by the support, which depends on the mounting details [12], and by the loss in the sample holder [13], and it is known that these losses can sometimes be reduced by minimizing the contact of the chip frame with the sample mount [2].The loss through the supporting substrate is usually evaluated from the energy transfer rate mediated by phonons tunneling from the membrane resonator into the substrate [14,15], an approach that motivated the development of isolation systems ba...

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“…Because the coupling is so general, a wide variety of experiments exist. For example, the scale on which the mechanical motion takes place can range from suspended macroscopic mirrors [1][2][3] to cold atoms coupled to an optical cavity [4], see Ref. [5] for a review.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optomechanics with a polarization nondegenerate cavity

et al. 2016

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Experiments in the field of optomechanics do not yet fully exploit the photon polarization degree of freedom. Here experimental results for an optomechanical interaction in a polarization nondegenerate system are presented and schemes are proposed for how to use this interaction to perform accurate side-band thermometry and to create interesting forms of photon-phonon entanglement. The experimental system utilizes the compressive force in the mirror attached to a mechanical resonator to create a micromirror with two radii of curvature which leads, when combined with a second mirror, to a significant polarization splitting of the cavity modes.

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Low-Loss Optomechanical Oscillator for Quantum-Optics Experiments

Cited by 13 publications

References 60 publications

Nested trampoline resonators for optomechanics

Nested trampoline resonators for optomechanics

Control of recoil losses in nanomechanical SiN membrane resonators

Optomechanics with a polarization nondegenerate cavity

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