Optically Mediated Hybridization Between Two Mechanical Modes

Abstract

In this paper we study a system consisting of two nearly degenerate mechanical modes that couple to a single mode of an optical cavity. We show that this coupling leads to nearly complete (99.5%) hybridization of the two mechanical modes into a bright mode that experiences strong optomechanical interactions and a dark mode that experiences almost no optomechanical interactions. We use this hybridization to transfer energy between the mechanical modes with 40% efficiency.

11 pages, 8 figures (including supplemental material); the following article has been accepted by Physical Review Letters