Inducing micromechanical motion by optical excitation of a single quantum dot

J Kettler (1) , N Vaish (1) , L Mercier de Lépinay (2) , B Besga (3) , P L de Assis (4) , O Bourgeois (5) , A Auffèves (1) , Maxime Richard (1) , J Claudon (6) , J M Gérard (6) , Benjamin Pigeau (2) , O Arcizet (2) , P Verlot (7) , J P Poizat (1)

1 NEEL - NPSC - Nanophysique et Semiconducteurs
2 NEEL - NOF - Nano-Optique et Forces
3 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon
4 UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas = University of Campinas
5 NEEL - TPS - Thermodynamique et biophysique des petits systèmes
6 NPSC - Nanophysique et Semiconducteurs
7 UON - University of Nottingham, UK

Hybrid quantum optomechanical systems offer an interface between a single two-level system and a macroscopical mechanical degree of freedom. In this work, we build a hybrid system made of a vibrating microwire coupled to a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) via material strain. It was shown a few years ago, that the QD excitonic transition energy can thus be modulated by the microwire motion. We demonstrate here the reverse effect, whereby the wire is set in motion by the resonant drive of a single QD exciton with a laser modulated at the mechanical frequency. The resulting driving force is found to be almost 3 orders of magnitude larger than radiation pressure. From a fundamental aspect, this state dependent force offers a convenient strategy to map the QD quantum state onto a mechanical degree of freedom.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Autre [cond-mat.other]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

J Kettler, N Vaish, L Mercier de Lépinay, B Besga, P L de Assis, et al.. Inducing micromechanical motion by optical excitation of a single quantum dot. Nature Nanotechnology, 2021, 16, pp.283-287. ⟨10.1038/s41565-020-00814-y⟩. ⟨hal-02990328⟩