Abstract

Self-sustained oscillations/oscillators (SSO), man-made or naturally occurring, are some of the most universal phenomena. The common feature of all SSO is the so called positive feedback, which overcomes the damping by properly controlling of energy supply (pumping) from outside source during the cycle of oscillations. Usually, the zero steady-state point of the system is unstable, and the oscillations grow up till they reach a stable limit cycle. The common quality of the resulting SSO is their well defined amplitude (the so called classical squeezing) at the expense of undetermined phase of oscillations. All the “mechanical motion” SSO known so far, were based on macrosystems, while it would be of great importance to develop a microscopic SS-oscillator based on a single particle (atom or ion), which would enable us to control the SSO mode from classical to quantum limits.

© 1999 Optical Society of America