2008/07/15 by Ferdinand Brennecke, Stephan Ritter, Tobias Donner +1 · 24 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Bose–Einstein condensate #Cavity quantum electrodynamics #Coupling (piping) #Excitation #Field (mathematics) #Finesse #Laser #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Open quantum system #Optical cavity #Optomechanics #Photon #Physics #Quantum #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #cond-mat.other #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1163218
published as Science 322, 235-238 (2008) · F.B. and S.R. contributed equally to this work. 6 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2008/07/15 · openalex publication_date 2008/09/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Cavity optomechanics studies the coupling between a mechanical oscillator and the electromagnetic field in a cavity. We report on a cavity optomechanical system in which a collective density excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate serves as the mechanical oscillator coupled to the cavity field. A few photons inside the ultrahigh-finesse cavity trigger strongly driven back-action dynamics, in quantitative agreement with a cavity optomechanical model. We approach the strong coupling regime of cavity optomechanics, where a single excitation of the mechanical oscillator substantially influences the cavity field. The results open up new directions for investigating mechanical oscillators in the quantum regime and the border between classical and quantum physics.