Amplified optomechanics in a unidirectional ring cavity

Abstract

We investigate optomechanical forces on a nearly lossless scatterer, such as an atom pumped far off-resonance or a micromirror, inside an optical ring cavity. Our model introduces two additional features to the cavity: an isolator is used to prevent circulation and resonant enhancement of the pump laser field and thus to avoid saturation of or damage to the scatterer, and an optical amplifier is used to enhance the effective Q-factor of the counterpropagating mode and thus to increase the velocity-dependent forces by amplifying the back-scattered light. We calculate friction forces, momentum diffusion, and steady-state temperatures to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed setup.