QUROPE Quantum Information Processing and Communication in Europe

We provide a general quantum theory to describe the coupling of light with the motion of a dielectric object inside a high finesse optical cavity. In particular, we derive the total Hamiltonian of the system as well as a master equation describing the state of the center of mass mode of the dielectric and the cavity field mode. In addition, a quantum theory of elasticity is used in order to study the coupling of the center of mass motion with internal vibrational excitations of the dielectric. This general theory is applied to the recent proposal of using an optically levitating nanodielectric as a cavity optomechanical system [1, 2]. On this basis, we also design a lightmechanics interface to prepare non-Gaussian states of the mechanical motion, such as quantum superpositions of Fock states. Finally, we introduce a direct mechanical tomography scheme to probe these genuine quantum states by time of flight experiments.