Cavity Optomechanics: manipulating mechanical resonators with light

by Prof. Davide Vitali (Universita' di Camerino e INFN, Sezione di Perugia)

Thursday 10 Nov 2011, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

230 (INFN Pisa, Edificio C)

Optomechanical sensors, such as atomic or magnetic force microscopes, are currently used in many applications. They detect small displacements of a mechanical oscillator through the phase shift imparted on a light beam interacting with it. The recent progress in nanofabrication techniques now enables these devices to enter a regime where they can manifest quantum effects. As a consequence, a new and highly active research field has emerged, with the aim of designing and implementing devices in which a strong and tunable optomechanical interaction allows to manipulate at the quantum level the state of micromechanical resonators and optical modes. The application of this field are diverse, ranging from novel sensors with unprecedented precision to detect mechanical forces or displacement, to the realization of quantum interfaces for quantum information processing. Here we shall describe how quantum dynamics of such a mesoscopic system can be generated, manipulated and detected. Finally recent experimental results of the cavity optomechanics experiment presently carried at the Quantum Optics and Information Group of the University of Camerino will be presented.