Cavity optomechanics with whispering-gallery-mode microresonators

Abstract

Whispering gallery modes (WGM) of optical microresonators can feature long photon lifetime and small mode volume. The realisation that these devices exhibit co-localised mechanical modes coupled via radiation pressure to the WGM enabled dynamical backaction physics and a variety of other optomechanical phenomena to be observed and explored in an experimental setting. Here we provide a succinct introduction to cavity optomechanics withWGMresonators and reviewtheir use for the measurements with an imprecision below that at the standard quantum limit, cooling to the quantum regime and quantum coherent coupling. Moreover, optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) in these resonators is described, which forms the basis for a number of quantum optomechanical protocols.