Cavity Optomechanics — Sideband Cooling

A mechanical oscillator coupled to an optical cavity can be cooled to its quantum ground state by driving on the red sideband (ωL = ωc − ωm). Photons scattered to the blue sideband carry away one mechanical phonon per scattering event, reducing the phonon occupation number n̄.

n̄_ss = —
Red sideband (Δ = −ωm):
Cooling rate: Γopt = 4g²/κ
Quantum limit: n̄_min = (κ/4ωm)²

Blue sideband (Δ = +ωm):
Parametric amplification, heating