We present a scheme for tuning and controlling nano mechanical resonators by subjecting them to electrostatic gradient fields, provided by nearby tip electrodes. We show that this approach enables access to a novel regime of optomechanics, where the
intrinsic nonlinearity of the nanoresonator can be explored. In this regime, one or several laser driven cavity modes coupled to the nanoresonator and suitably adjusted gradient fields allow to control the motional state of the nanoresonator at the single phonon level. Some applications of this platform have been presented previously [New J. Phys. 14, 023042 (2012), Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 120503 (2013)]. Here, we provide a detailed description of the corresponding setup and its optomechanical coupling mechanisms, together with an in-depth analysis of possible sources of damping or decoherence and a discussion of the readout of the nanoresonator state.
Mechanical dissipation poses an ubiquitous challenge to the performance of nanomechanical devices. Here we analyze the support-induced dissipation of high-stress nanomechanical resonators. We develop a model for this loss mechanism and test it on sil
icon nitride membranes with circular and square geometries. The measured Q-values of different harmonics present a non-monotonic behavior which is successfully explained. For azimuthal harmonics of the circular geometry we predict that destructive interference of the radiated waves leads to an exponential suppression of the clamping loss in the harmonic index. Our model can also be applied to graphene drums under high tension.
We propose a framework for inducing strong optomechanical effects in a suspended carbon nanotube based on deformation potential exciton-phonon coupling. The excitons are confined using an inhomogeneous axial electric field which generates optically a
ctive quantum dots with a level spacing in the milli-electronvolt range and a characteristic size in the 10-nanometer range. A transverse field induces a tunable parametric coupling between the quantum dot and the flexural modes of the nanotube mediated by electron-phonon interactions. We derive the corresponding excitonic deformation potentials and show that this interaction enables efficient optical ground-state cooling of the fundamental mode and could allow us to realise the strong and ultra-strong coupling regimes of the Jaynes-Cummings and Rabi models.
State of the art nanomechanical resonators present quality factors Q ~ 10^3 - 10^5, which are much lower than those that can be naively extrapolated from the behavior of micromechanical resonators. We analyze the dissipation mechanism that arises in
nanomechanical beam-structures due to the tunneling of mesoscopic phonons between the beam and its supports (known as clamping losses). We derive the environmental force spectral density that determines the quantum Brownian motion of a given resonance. Our treatment is valid for low frequencies and provides the leading contribution in the aspect ratio. This yields fundamental limits for the Q-values which are described by simple scaling laws and are relevant for state of the art experimental structures. In this context, for resonant frequencies in the 0.1-1GHz range, while this dissipation mechanism can limit flexural resonators it is found to be negligible for torsional ones. In the case of structureless 3D supports the corresponding environmental spectral densities are Ohmic for flexural resonators and super-Ohmic for torsional ones, while for 2D slab supports they yield 1/f noise. Furthermore analogous results are established for the case of suspended semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. Finally, we provide a general expression for the spectral density that allows to extend our treatment to other geometries and illustrate its use by applying it to a microtoroid. Our analysis is relevant for applications in high precision measurements and for the prospects of probing quantum effects in a macroscopic mechanical degree of freedom.
