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Free keywords:
Quantum Physics, quant-ph, Condensed Matter, Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics, cond-mat.mes-hall,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, gr-qc, Physics, Optics, physics.optics
Abstract:
We analyze dynamic optomechanical back-action effects in signal-recycled
Michelson and Michelson-Sagnac interferometers that are operated off dark port.
Up to now, their optomechanics has been studied under dark port condition only.
For the dark port case and in the context of gravitational wave detectors, the
`scaling law' assured that all back-action effects can be understood on the
basis of the much simpler topology of a Fabry-Perot interferometer. Off dark
port, our theoretical and experimental analysis reveals certain `anomalous'
features as compared to the ones of `canonical' back-action, obtained within
the scope of scaling law. In particular, optical damping as a function of
detuning acquires a non-zero value on cavity resonance, and several
stability/instability regions on either side of the cavity resonance appear. We
report on the experimental observation of these instabilities on both sides of
the cavity resonance in a Michelson-Sagnac interferometer with a
micromechanical membrane. For a certain region of parameters, a stable optical
spring (that is positive shifts of frequency and damping) in a free-mass
interferometer with a single laser drive are possible. Our results can find
implementations in both cavity optomechanics, revealing new regimes of cooling
of micromechanical oscillators, and in gravitational-wave detectors, revealing
the possibility of stable single-carrier optical spring which can be utilized
for the reduction of quantum noise in future-generation detectors.
