Publications Lukas DEEG

2025

Articles

• N. Diaz-Naufal, L. Deeg, D. Zoepfl, C. Schneider, M. L. Juan, G. Kirchmair, A. Metelmann Kerr enhanced optomechanical cooling in the unresolved sideband regime, Phys. Rev. A 111 53505 (2025-05-25), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.111.053505 doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.111.053505 (ID: 721277) Toggle Abstract
  Dynamical backaction cooling has been demonstrated to be a successful method for achieving the motional quantum ground state of a mechanical oscillator in the resolved-sideband regime, where the mechanical frequency is significantly larger than the cavity decay rate. Nevertheless, as mechanical systems increase in size, their frequencies naturally decrease, thus bringing them into the unresolved-sideband regime, where the effectiveness of the sideband cooling approach decreases. Here we demonstrate, however, that this cooling technique in the unresolved-sideband regime can be significantly enhanced by utilizing a nonlinear cavity as shown in the experimental work of Zoepfl et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 033601 (2023)]. The above arises due to the increased asymmetry between the cooling and heating processes, thereby improving the cooling efficiency. In addition, we show that injecting a squeezed vacuum into the nonlinear cavity paves the way to ground-state cooling of the mechanical mode. Notably, the required squeezing parameters are far less stringent than in the linear case, simplifying experimental implementation.
• L. Deeg, D. Zoepfl, N. Diaz-Naufal, M. L. Juan, A. Metelmann, G. Kirchmair Optomechanical Backaction in the Bistable Regime, Phys. Rev. Applied 23 (2025-01-31), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.014082 doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.014082 (ID: 721263) Toggle Abstract
  With a variety of realizations, optomechanics utilizes its light-matter interaction to test fundamental physics. By coupling the phonons of a mechanical resonator to the photons in a high-quality cavity, control of increasingly macroscopic objects has become feasible. In such systems, state manipulation of the mechanical mode is achieved by driving the cavity. To be able to achieve high drive powers the system is typically designed such that it remains in a linear response regime when driven. A nonlinear response, and especially bistability, in a driven cavity is often considered detrimental to cooling and state preparation in optomechanical systems and is avoided in experiments. Here we show that with an intrinsic nonlinear cavity backaction cooling of a mechanical resonator is feasible operating deep within the nonlinear regime of the cavity. With our theory taking the nonlinearity into account, precise predictions on backaction cooling can be achieved even with a cavity beyond the bifurcation point, where the cavity photon number spectrum starts to deviate from a typical Lorentzian shape.

2023

Article

• D. Zöpfl, M. L. Juan, N. Diaz-Naufal, C. Schneider, L. Deeg, A. Sharafiev, A. Metelmann, G. Kirchmair Kerr Enhanced Backaction Cooling in Magnetomechanics, PRL 130 33601 (2023-01-17), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.033601 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.033601 (ID: 720816) Toggle Abstract
  Optomechanics is a prime example of light matter interaction, where photons directly couple to phonons, allowing the precise control and measurement of the state of a mechanical object. This makes it a very appealing platform for testing fundamental physics or for sensing applications. Usually, such mechanical oscillators are in highly excited thermal states and require cooling to the mechanical ground state for quantum applications, which is often accomplished by using optomechanical backaction. However, while massive mechanical oscillators are desirable for many tasks, their frequency usually decreases below the cavity linewidth, significantly limiting the methods that can be used to efficiently cool. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach relying on an intrinsically nonlinear cavity to backaction-cool a low frequency mechanical oscillator. We experimentally demonstrate outperforming an identical, but linear, system by more than 1 order of magnitude. Furthermore, our theory predicts that with this approach we can also surpass the standard cooling limit of a linear system. By exploiting a nonlinear cavity, our approach enables efficient cooling of a wider range of optomechanical systems, opening new opportunities for fundamental tests and sensing.