Optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities: Cooling of a micro-mirror and parametric normal mode splitting

We propose a technique aimed at cooling a harmonically oscillating mirror mechanically coupled to another vibrating mirror to its quantum mechanical ground state. Our method involves optomechanical coupling between two optical cavities. We show that the cooling can be controlled by the mechanical coupling strength between the two movable mirrors, the phase difference between the mechanical modes of the two oscillating mirrors and the photon number in each cavity. We also show that both mechanical and optical cooling can be achieved by transferring energy from one cavity to the other. We also analyze the occurrence of normal-mode splitting (NMS). We find that a hybridization of the two oscillating mirrors with the fluctuations of the two driving optical fields occurs and leads to a splitting of the mechanical and optical fluctuation spectra. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.