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Dressed-State Optomechanics in the Few-Photon Regime

Quantum Physics 2026-03-12 v1

Abstract

Efficient optomechanical cooling typically requires high photon occupancy to maximize cooling power, a constraint that generally limits the degree of coherent quantum control available in the few-photon regime. Here, we investigate this trade-off by considering a strongly nonlinear cavity operated as a discrete quantum system. In the weak-coupling limit, we derive a general connection between the optomechanical damping rate and the cavity's dressed-state manifold. This framework reveals that the damping rate (determined by the population imbalance across dressed states) is directly tunable via the coherent manipulation tools which are standard in circuit quantum electrodynamics. We illustrate this framework using a Josephson photonics architecture, where a dc-biased junction induces a photon blockade that truncates the cavity to an NN-level system. By sacrificing raw cooling (or heating) power, this platform enables full quantum mechanical control over optomechanical properties, offering a versatile avenue for the quantum manipulation of mechanical modes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.10665,
  title  = {Dressed-State Optomechanics in the Few-Photon Regime},
  author = {Surangana Sengupta and Björn Kubala and Joachim Ankerhold and Ciprian Padurariu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.10665},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 Pages, 4 figures