Mechanical oscillations frozen on discrete levels by two optical driving fields

Abstract

We report a synchronization phenomenon which is simulated with an optomechanical system driven by two equally strong fields with different frequencies. Once the frequencies of the driving fields are properly matched, the amplitude and phase of the mechanical oscillator coupled to the cavity field, together with its frequency spectrum, will be frozen on one of the determined trajectories like energy levels, and the phenomenon exists for the drive intensity beyond a threshold. Interestingly, the mechanical motion can become highly sensitive to its initial condition and the perturbations during the beginning period of dynamical evolution but, unlike the aperiodicity in chaotic motion, it will nonetheless evolve to one of those fixed trajectories in the end. The scenario may find applications in detecting tiny changes in the environment.

We report a synchronization phenomenon which is simulated with an optomechanical system driven by two equally strong fields with different frequencies. Once the frequencies of the driving fields are properly matched, the amplitude and phase of the mechanical oscillator coupled to the cavity field, together with its frequency spectrum, will be frozen on one of the determined trajectories like energy levels, and the phenomenon exists for the drive intensity beyond a threshold. Interestingly, the mechanical motion can become highly sensitive to its initial condition and the perturbations during the beginning period of dynamical evolution but, unlike the aperiodicity in chaotic motion, it will nonetheless evolve to one of those fixed trajectories in the end. The scenario may find applications in detecting tiny changes in the environment.