Cavity Optomechanics with a Bose-Einstein Condensate
Ferdinand Brennecke,*
Stephan Ritter,*
Tobias Donner,
Tilman Esslinger
Cavity optomechanics studies the coupling between a mechanical
oscillator and the electromagnetic field in a cavity. We report
on a cavity optomechanical system in which a collective density
excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate serves as the mechanical
oscillator coupled to the cavity field. A few photons inside
the ultrahigh-finesse cavity trigger strongly driven back-action
dynamics, in quantitative agreement with a cavity optomechanical
model. We approach the strong coupling regime of cavity optomechanics,
where a single excitation of the mechanical oscillator substantially
influences the cavity field. The results open up new directions
for investigating mechanical oscillators in the quantum regime
and the border between classical and quantum physics.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: esslinger{at}phys.ethz.ch
