Quantum optics with micromirrors

Abstract

Recent progress in high-finesse optical cavities and micro-mechanical resonators allows one to reach a new regime in which both mechanical and optical dynamics are governed by the radiation pressure exerted by light on mirrors. This optomechanical coupling leads to the existence of fundamental quantum limits in ultrasensitive interferometric measurements, and also to very efficient cooling mechanisms of micromirrors. We experimentally study these effects by monitoring in a very high-finesse cavity the displacements of a mirror coated on a micro-resonator. We have in particular observed a self-cooling of the mirror induced by the intracavity radiation pressure. Improvements of the experimental setup would open the way to the optical observation of the quantum ground state of a macroscopic resonator.