The intracavity power, and hence sensitivity, of optomechanical sensors is commonly limited by parametric instability. Here we characterize the parametric instability induced sensitivity degradation in a micron scale cavity optomechanical system. Feedback via optomechanical transduction and electrical gradient force actuation is applied to suppress the parametric instability. As a result a 5.4 fold increase in mechanical motion transduction sensitivity is achieved to a final value of 1.9×10−18mHz−1/2.
@article{arxiv.1109.2381,
title = {Feedback Enhanced Sensitivity in Optomechanics: Surpassing the Parametric Instability Barrier},
author = {Glen I. Harris and Ulrik L. Andersen and Joachim Knittel and Warwick P. Bowen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.2381},
year = {2015}
}