Cooling the centre-of-mass motion of a silica microsphere

Abstract

We describe cooling of the center-of-mass (c.o.m.) motion of silica microspheres using the morphology dependent whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances excited by light coupled from a tapered optical fibre. This scheme uses passive cooling via the velocity dependent scattering force from the excitation of WGM resonances in one direction1 and active feedback cooling via cavity enhanced optical dipole forces (CEODF)2 along a perpendicular axis. Initial experiments have shown successful laser frequency locking to a WGM using relatively high coupled powers despite thermal bistability and thermally induced frequency shifts in the WGM. We also demonstrate the optomechanical transduction required for feedback by monitoring the transmission through the tapered fibre, demonstrating the ability to resolve displacements of less than a nanometer and velocities less than 40X10^-6 ms^-1.