Abstract

Recent advances in cavity quantum optomechanics have enabled breakthroughs such as ground state cooling of mechanical motion, observation of quantum backaction and the standard quantum limit of position measurement and entanglement between optical and mechanical degrees of freedom [1]. Simultaneously, the next generation of gravitational-wave interferometers is expected to observe optomechanical effects such as parametric instability and quantum backaction, while its sensitivity has already been quantum-enhanced [2]. Despite sharing the same fundamental optomechanical coupling mechanism, the typical mass of the mechanical degree of freedom in these two research fields differs by twelve orders of magnitude.

© 2015 IEEE