ABSTRACT
The field of optomechanics explores the coupling between light and the motion of mechanical systems [1-3]. Research in optomechanics finds many similarities with concepts developed in atomic physics. For example, the principles of optical cooling of atoms are today applied to optical cooling of mechanical oscillators [4]. Conversely, optical tweezers used to trap atoms can be considered as optomechanical realizations, the atom being the moving mechanical element [5,6]. Optomechanical effects like optical control, optical tuning, or optical actuation of mechanical motion generate prospects for innovative experiments in sensing, metrology, or mesoscopic quantum physics. For example, advances in the optical cooling of
a mechanical oscillator into its quantum regime offer the exciting perspective to reveal and study the “quantumness” of macroscopic solid state mechanical systems [7-9]. In sensing experiments, nanoscale optomechanical systems allow to combine the extreme sensitivity of nanomechanical sensors to optical read-out techniques [10]. For a few years now, the principles of optomechanics find regularly novel usance.
