Engineering Phonon Leakage in Nanomechanical Resonators

A cavity optomechanical system enables optical readout and control of the phonons trapped in a nanomechanical resonator. For a network that uses mechanical waves to distribute quantum information, we must find ways to move phonons in and out of cavities, without altering the other properties of the system. This study solves the problem by judiciously breaking specific symmetries of the structure, to generate controllable phonon leakage out of a resonator on a chip without modifying the optical properties. Interestingly, disorder is observed to cause fluctuations in the leakage rate, which counterintuitively could r00exe00exd00exu00exc00exe losses.