Quantum nondemolition measurement of optical field fluctuations by optomechanical interaction
A. Pontin (University College London, University of Florence, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Sezione di Firenze)
M. Bonaldi (Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, Fondazione Bruno Kessler)
A. Borrielli (Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications)
L. Marconi (Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)
F. Marino (Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Sezione di Firenze)
G. Pandraud (TU Delft - Else Kooi Laboratory, TU Delft - EKL Processing)
G.A. Prodi (Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, Università degli Studi di Trento)
P.M. Sarro (TU Delft - Else Kooi Laboratory, TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials)
E. Serra (Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, TU Delft - Else Kooi Laboratory, TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials)
F. Marin (Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Sezione di Firenze)
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Abstract
According to quantum mechanics, if we keep observing a continuous variable we generally disturb its evolution. For a class of observables, however, it is possible to implement a so-called quantum nondemolition measurement: by confining the perturbation to the conjugate variable, the observable is estimated with arbitrary accuracy, or prepared in a well-known state. For instance, when the light bounces on a movable mirror, its intensity is not perturbed (the effect is just seen on the phase of the radiation), but the radiation pressure allows one to trace back its fluctuations by observing the mirror motion. In this work, we implement a cavity optomechanical experiment based on an oscillating micromirror, and we measure correlations between the output light intensity fluctuations and the mirror motion. We demonstrate that the uncertainty of the former is reduced below the shot-noise level determined by the corpuscular nature of light.