Wednesday, 01 April, 2009
Optomechanics of deformable optical cavities
I. Favero, K. Karrai -
Nature Photonics, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp. 201-205 (2009)
Resonant optical cavities such as Fabry-Perot resonators or whispering-gallery structures are subject to radiation pressure pushing their reflecting 'walls' apart. Deformable optical cavities yield to this pressure, but in doing so they in turn affect the stored optical energy, resulting in an optical back-action. For such cavities the optics and the mechanics become strongly coupled, making them fascinating systems in which to explore theories of measurements at the quantum limit. Here we provide a summary of the current state of optomechanics of deformable optical cavities, identifying some of the most important recent developments in the field