Brownian Noise in Radiation-Pressure-Driven Micromechanical Oscillators

H. Rokhsari, M. Hossein-Zadeh, A. Hajimiri, and K. Vahala

The authors demonstrate Brownian-noise-limited operation of an optomechanical oscillator, wherein mechanical oscillations of a silica optical microcavity are sustained by means of radiation pressure. Using phase noise measurement above threshold, it has been shown that the short-term line width of mechanical oscillations is fundamentally broadened, limited by thermal equipartition of energy.