Theory of Ground State Cooling of a Mechanical Oscillator Using Dynamical Backaction

Abstract

A quantum theory of cooling of a mechanical oscillator by radiation pressure-induced dynamical backaction is developed, which is analogous to sideband cooling of trapped ions. We find that final occupancies well below unity can be attained when the mechanical oscillation frequency is larger than the optical cavity linewidth. It is shown that the final average occupancy can be retrieved directly from the optical output spectrum.