Laser Cooling of a Nanomechanical Resonator Mode to its Quantum Ground State

Abstract

We show that it is possible to cool a nanomechanical resonator mode to its ground state. The proposed technique is based on resonant laser excitation of a phonon sideband of an embedded quantum dot. The strength of the sideband coupling is determined directly by the difference between the electron-phonon couplings of the initial and final states of the quantum dot optical transition. Possible applications of this scheme include generation of nonclassical states of mechanical motion.