Ponderomotive light squeezing with atomic cavity optomechanics

Understand

Accessing distinctly quantum aspects of the interaction between light and the position of a mechanical object has been an outstanding challenge to cavity-optomechanical systems.

• Only cold-atom implementations of cavity optomechanics have indicated effects of the quantum fluctuations in the optical radiation pressure force.
• Here we use such a system, in which quantum photon-number fluctuations significantly drive the center of mass of an atomic ensemble inside a Fabry-Perot cavity.
• We show that the optomechanical response both amplifies and ponderomotively squeezes the quantum light field.