Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published May 21, 2012 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Enhancement of Mechanical Q Factors by Optical Trapping

Abstract

The quality factor of a mechanical resonator is an important figure of merit for various sensing applications and for observing quantum behavior. Here, we demonstrate a technique to push the quality factor of a micromechanical resonator beyond conventional material and fabrication limits by using an optical field to stiffen or trap a particular motional mode. Optical forces increase the oscillation frequency by storing most of the mechanical energy in a nearly lossless optical potential, thereby strongly diluting the effect of material dissipation. By placing a 130 nm thick SiO_2 pendulum in an optical standing wave, we achieve an increase in the pendulum center-of-mass frequency from 6.2 to 145 kHz. The corresponding quality factor increases 50-fold from its intrinsic value to a final value of Q=5.8(1.1)×10^5, representing more than an order of magnitude improvement over the conventional limits of SiO_2 for this geometry. Our technique may enable new opportunities for mechanical sensing and facilitate observations of quantum behavior in this class of mechanical systems.

Additional Information

© 2012 American Physical Society. Received 9 January 2012; published 21 May 2012. We thank T. Rosenband for insightful discussions. K. N. acknowledges support from Caltech CPI. DEC acknowledges support from CPI and the Fundacio Cellex Barcelona. This work is supported by DARPA ORCHID program, the NSF, DoD NSSEFF, and Caltech IQIM, an NSF Physics Frontier Center with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Attached Files

Published - Ni2012p18504Phys_Rev_Lett.pdf

Submitted - 1201.1864v1.pdf

Files

1201.1864v1.pdf
Files (3.4 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:b3c9c37b2d995f4e65de65da2e9451c5
2.6 MB Preview Download
md5:2acebe018f81443c02e314404151f84f
819.8 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023