Speaker: Michael Vanner, Imperial College London
Brillouin optomechanics in whispering-gallery-mode microresonators: Strong coupling, the lasing transition, and single-phonon addition and subtraction operations
Backward Brillouin-Mandelstam scattering in whispering-gallery-mode microresonators offers an exciting avenue to pursue both classical and quantum optomechanics applications. Our team—the Quantum Measurement Lab—together with our collaborators, are currently exploring and utilizing the favourable properties this platform affords for non-Gaussian motional state preparation of acoustic fields. In particular, the high acoustic frequencies, acoustic mode selectivity, and low optical absorption provide a promising route to overcome current hindrances within optomechanics. Some of our key recent results in this direction include: the observation of Brillouin optomechanical strong coupling [1], single-phonon addition and subtraction to a thermal state of the acoustic field [2], advancing the state-of-the-art of mechanical state tomography to observe the non-Gaussian states generated by single- and multi-phonon subtraction [3], and studying the second-order coherence across the Brillouin lasing threshold [4]. This talk will cover these results, what they enable, and the broader direction of our lab including the prospects of this platform to explore the foundations of physics and the development of a telecommunications-compatible quantum memory.
Web: www.qmeas.net
- G. Enzian etal Optica 6, 7 (2019).
- G. Enzian etal Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 033601 (2021).
- G. Enzian*, L. Freisem*, J. J. Price*, A. Ø. Svela* etal Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 243601 (2021).
- E. A. Cryer-Jenkins*, G. Enzian* etal Optica 10, 1432 (2023).