Optomechanical feedback cooling of a 5 mm long torsional mode

Abstract

We report three orders of magnitude optical cooling of the fundamental torsional mode of a 5 mm-long, 550 nm diameter optical nanofiber. The rotation of the nanofiber couples to the polarization of guided laser fields. We use a weak laser probe to monitor the rotation, and use feedback to modulate the polarization of an auxiliary drive laser providing torque. Our results present a tool for the optomechanical control of large-scale torsional resonators, with metrological applications and potential implications for studying macroscopic objects in quantum states.