2D photonic-crystal optomechanical nanoresonator.

We present the optical optimization of an optomechanical device based on a suspended InP membrane patterned with a 2D near-wavelength grating (NWG) based on a 2D photonic-crystal geometry. We first identify by numerical simulation a set of geometrical parameters providing a reflectivity higher than 99.8% over a 50-nm span. We then study the limitations induced by the finite value of the optical waist and lateral size of the NWG pattern using different numerical approaches. The NWG grating, pierced in a suspended InP 265-nm thick membrane, is used to form a compact microcavity involving the suspended nanomembrane as an end mirror. The resulting cavity has a waist size smaller than 10 µm and a finesse in the 200 range. It is used to probe the Brownian motion of the mechanical modes of the nanomembrane.

Radiation-pressure cooling and optomechanical instability of a micromirror.

Recent table-top optical interferometry experiments and advances in gravitational-wave detectors have demonstrated the capability of optical interferometry to detect displacements with high sensitivity. Operation at higher powers will be crucial for further sensitivity enhancement, but dynamical effects caused by radiation pressure on the interferometer mirrors must be taken into account, and the appearance of optomechanical instabilities may jeopardize the stable operation of the next generation of interferometers. These instabilities are the result of a nonlinear coupling between the motion of the mirrors and the optical field, which modifies the effective dynamics of the mirror. Such 'optical spring' effects have already been demonstrated for the mechanical damping of an electromagnetic waveguide with a moving wall, the resonance frequency of a specially designed flexure oscillator, and the optomechanical instability of a silica microtoroidal resonator. Here we present an experiment where a micromechanical resonator is used as a mirror in a very high-finesse optical cavity, and its displacements are monitored with unprecedented sensitivity. By detuning the laser frequency with respect to the cavity resonance, we have observed a drastic cooling of the microresonator by intracavity radiation pressure, down to an effective temperature of 10 kelvin. For opposite detuning, efficient heating is observed, as well as a radiation-pressure-induced instability of the resonator. Further experimental progress and cryogenic operation may lead to the experimental observation of the quantum ground state of a micromechanical resonator, either by passive or active cooling techniques.

Backaction amplification and quantum limits in optomechanical measurements.

Optical interferometry is by far the most sensitive displacement measurement technique available, with sensitivities at the 10(-20) m/square root(Hz) level in the large-scale gravitational-wave interferometers currently in operation. Second-generation interferometers will experience a tenfold improvement in sensitivity and be mainly limited by quantum noise, close to the standard quantum limit (SQL), once considered as the ultimate displacement sensitivity achievable by interferometry. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate one of the techniques envisioned to go beyond the SQL: amplification of a signal by radiation-pressure backaction in a detuned cavity.

Scheme to probe optomechanical correlations between two optical beams down to the quantum level.

The quantum effects of radiation pressure are expected to limit the sensitivity of second-generation gravitational-wave interferometers. Though ubiquitous, such effects are so weak that they have not been experimentally demonstrated yet. Using a high-finesse optical cavity and a classical intensity noise, we have demonstrated radiation-pressure induced correlations between two optical beams sent into the same moving mirror cavity. Our scheme can be used to retrieve weak correlations at the quantum level and has applications both in high-sensitivity measurements and in quantum optics.

Observation of back-action noise cancellation in interferometric and weak force measurements.

We experimentally demonstrate a cancellation of back-action noise in optical measurements. Back-action cancellation was first proposed within the framework of gravitational-wave detection by dual resonators as a way to drastically improve their sensitivity. We have developed an experiment based on a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity to study radiation-pressure effects in ultrasensitive displacement measurements. Using an intensity-modulated intracavity field to mimic the quantum radiation-pressure noise, we report the first observation of back-action cancellation due to a coherent mechanical response of the mirrors in the cavity to the radiation-pressure noise. We have observed a sensitivity improvement by a factor larger than 20 both in displacement and weak-force measurements.

High-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator with a quantum-limited optomechanical sensor.

We experimentally demonstrate the high-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micromechanical resonator and its cooling by active control. Coating a low-loss mirror upon the resonator, we have built an optomechanical sensor based on a very high-finesse cavity (30 000). We have measured the thermal noise of the resonator with a quantum-limited sensitivity at the 10(-19) m/sqrt[Hz] level, and cooled the resonator down to 5 K by a cold-damping technique. Applications of our setup range from quantum optics experiments to the experimental demonstration of the quantum ground state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator.

[Selective stabilization of neuronal representations by resonance between spontaneous prerepresentations of the cerebral network and percepts evoked by interaction with the outside world]. / Stabilisation sélective de représentations neuronales par résonance entre "préreprésentations" spontanées du réseau cérébral et "percepts" évoqués par interaction avec le monde extérieur.

Changeux et al. (Changeux, Heidmann and Patte, in "The Biology of Learning" Dahlem Conference, 1984, pp. 115-133, Springer Verlag) have recently discussed a model of "learning by selection" in which the storage of patterns of activity--or prerepresentations--within a network of neurons, results from the coincidence or "resonance" between a spontaneous activity of the neurons and external signals applied to the network--for instance sensory stimuli. In this Note, a mathematical formulation of the model is presented, based on that proposed by Little and Shaw (Little, Math. Biosci., 19, 1974, pp. 101-120; Little and Shaw, Math. Biosci., 39, 1978, pp. 281-290) for the statistical analysis of neuronal activity within a network, and on a rule for modulation of synaptic efficacies derived from that proposed by Hebb (Hebb, The Organisation of Behaviour, 1949, Wiley). The effect of an external signal sigma on the probability P(beta) of occurrence of a given prerepresentation beta under stationary conditions has been analytically derived [cf. equation (16) in text]. Taking into account that the system spontaneously fluctuates between various prerepresentations, it is shown that P(beta) is increased by the external signal sigma when (1) beta is close to sigma--namely the external signal significantly modifies the probabilities of those prerepresentations that resemble sigma--, and (2) when the external signal sigma sets the neurons precisely in the state that they would have more probably reached at the moment when the external signal was applied. Namely there should exist a "resonance" between sigma and the prerepresentation of the network when sigma is applied.

Improvements in the observed intensity correlation of optical parametric oscillator twin beams.

We report an observed quantum noise reduction of 86% (8.5 dB) near 3 MHz in the intensity difference between the twin beams generated by a nondegenerate type II optical parametric oscillator operating above threshold.