Optical driving of macroscopic mechanical motion by a single two-level system

Abstract

A quantum emitter coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator is a hybrid system where a macroscopic degree of freedom is coupled to a purely quantum system. Recent progress in nanotechnology has led to the realization of such devices by embedding single artificial atoms, such as quantum dots or superconducting qubits, into vibrating wires or membranes, opening up new perspectives for quantum information technologies and for the exploration of the quantum-classical boundary. In this paper, we show that the quantum emitter can be turned into a strikingly efficient light-controlled source of mechanical power by exploiting constructive interferences of classical phonon fields in the mechanical oscillator. We show that this mechanism can be exploited to carry out low-background nondestructive single-shot measurement of an optically active quantum bit state.