Quantum limits of photothermal and radiation pressure cooling of a movable mirror

Abstract

We present a general quantum-mechanical theory for the cooling of a movable mirror in an optical cavity when both radiation pressure self-cooling and photothermal cooling effects are present, and show that these two mechanisms may bring the oscillator close to its quantum ground state, although in quite different regimes. Self-cooling caused by coherent exchange of excitations between the cavity mode and the mirror vibrational mode is shown to dominate in the good-cavity regime - when the mechanical resonance frequency is larger than the cavity decay rate, whereas photothermal-induced cooling can be made predominant in the bad-cavity limit. Both situations are compared, and the relevant physical quantities to be optimized in order to reach the lowest final excitation number states are extracted. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.