Buckling transition in an optomechanical system

ORAL

Abstract

We analytically study and experimentally realize the buckling transition in an optomechanical system with a membrane in the middle of a Fabry-Perot cavity. Pumping the system lasers couples the optical and mechanical modes, which changes the effective potential of the membrane. Specifically, we find that a harmonic potential, at low power, develops into a double-well potential with increasing optical power, leading to a buckling transition for the membrane-in-the-middle system.

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Authors

  • Haitan Xu

    • JQI, University of Maryland-College Park; NIST

  • Utku Kemiktarak

    • University of Maryland-College Park; NIST

  • John Lawall

    • NIST

  • Jacob Taylor

    • JQI, University of Maryland-College Park; NIST
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park