Optical entanglement facilitated by a hot mechanical oscillator
Phys. Rev. A 114, 023510 – Published 12 August, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n1b6-4nj7
Abstract
Optomechanical generation of entangled optical beams is usually hindered by thermal noise. We present a theoretical study of low-frequency entanglement generation between two nondegenerate optical harmonics emitted from a cavity optomechanical system operating in the resolved-sideband regime. The system comprises three nearly equidistant optical modes in a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity, with the central mode coherently driven by a continuous wave classical signal. This configuration enables radiation-pressure interactions that generate strong quantum correlations between the two undriven sideband modes. Remarkably, these correlations persist even at large numbers of thermal phonons and a broad range of system parameters if the optical pump is strong enough. Entanglement is verified using a full quantum Langevin model that accounts for thermal noise and optical losses. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of robust entanglement under ambient conditions, opening new avenues for hybrid quantum technologies based on mechanical interfaces and continuous-variable quantum information processing.
