English

Analysis of radiation-pressure induced mechanical oscillation of an optical microcavity

Optics 2009-11-11 v1

Abstract

The theoretical work of V.B. Braginsky predicted that radiation pressure can couple the mechanical, mirror-eigenmodes of a Fabry-Perot resonator to it's optical modes, leading to a parametric oscillation instability. This regime is characterized by regenerative mechanical oscillation of the mechanical mirror eigenmodes. We have recently observed the excitation of mechanical modes in an ultra-high-Q optical microcavity. Here, we present a detailed experimental analysis of this effect and demonstrate that radiation pressure is the excitation mechanism of the observed mechanical oscillations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0506178,
  title  = {Analysis of radiation-pressure induced mechanical oscillation of an optical microcavity},
  author = {T. J. Kippenberg and H. Rokhsari and T. Carmon and A. Scherer and K. J. Vahala},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0506178},
  year   = {2009}
}