Optimal non-classical correlations of light with a levitated nano-sphere

Abstract

Nonclassical correlations provide a resource for many applications in quantum technology as well as providing strong evidence that a system is indeed operating in the quantum regime. Optomechanical systems can be arranged to generate quantum entanglement between the mechanics and a mode of travelling light. Here we propose automated optimisation of the production of quantum correlations in such a system, beyond what can be achieved through analytical methods, by applying Bayesian optimisation to the control parameters. Two-mode optomechanical squeezing experiment is simulated using a detailed theoretical model of the system, while the Bayesian optimisation process modifies the controllable parameters in order to maximise the non-classical two-mode squeezing and its detection, independently of the inner workings of the model. The Bayesian optimisation treats the simulations or the experiments as a black box. This we refer to as theory-blind optimisation, and the optimisation process is designed to be unaware of whether it is working with a simulation or the actual experimental setup. We find that in the experimentally relevant thermal regimes, the ability to vary and optimise a broad array of control parameters provides access to large values of two-mode squeezing that would otherwise be difficult or intractable to discover. In particular we observe that modulation of the driving frequency around the resonant sideband, when added to the set of control parameters, produces strong nonclassical correlations greater on average than the maximum achieved by optimising over the remaining parameters. We also find that using our optimisation approach raises the upper limit to the thermal regime in which squeezing can be achieved. This extends the range of experimental setups in which non-classical correlations could be generated beyond the region of high quantum cooperativity.

Quantum experiments with microscale particles

“…It has been proposed to generate non-Gaussian mechanical states by modulating the trapping field [48], by continuously measuring the cavity output [77], by pulsed driving [78,79], or by letting ground state-cooled particles interact with single photon pulses superimposed with the driving field [80]. From these schemes, modulating the trapping field has been experimentally realised with a classical thermal state [81], yielding a squashed phase space density.…”