Engineering chaos in a four-mirror cavity-optomechanics with mechanical drives

Abstract

We study the occurrence of chaos in a four-mirror optomechanical cavity with mechanical drives externally interacting with two transversely located moving-end mirrors of the cavity. The strong cavity mode, driven by the pump laser, excites mechanical oscillations in both moving-end mirrors with its radiation pressure. These radiation-pressure-induced mechanical effects then lead to the indirect coupling between two transverse mirrors, where intra-cavity field mimics as a spring between two mechanical objects. By computing Poincaré surface of sections for both mirrors over a wide interval of initial conditions, we illustrate the transition from stable to mixed – containing stable islands and chaotic seas – Poincaré surface of sections with external mechanical drives. To further explore the occurrence of chaos with mechanical drives, we measure the spatio-temporal responses of moving-end mirrors initially located in mixed Poincaré sections. We find that both of the mirrors follow chaotic temporal evolution with external mechanical drives, even in the absence of any one of the mechanical drives. To quantitatively measure the occurrence of chaos, we computed the possible Lyapunov exponents and collective Kolmogorov–Sinai Entropy of the system. We find that the largest Lyapunov exponent, and corresponding Kolmogorov–Sinai Entropy, not only gains positive values with increase in external drives but also crucially depends on the initial conditions chosen from the Poincaré surface of sections. Furthermore, we show the enhancement in chaotic dynamics of mirrors in the presence of mechanical damping rates associated with the oscillatory motion of the mirrors.