Two-membrane cavity optomechanics

We study the optomechanical behaviour of a driven Fabry–Pérot cavity containing two vibrating dielectric membranes. We characterize the cavity mode frequency shift as a function of the two-membrane positions, and report a ∼2.47 gain in the optomechanical coupling strength of the membrane relative motion with respect to the single membrane case. This is achieved when the two membranes are properly positioned to form an inner cavity which is resonant with the driving field. We also show that this two-membrane system has the capability to tune the single-photon optomechanical coupling on demand, and represents a promising platform for implementing cavity optomechanics with distinct oscillators. Such a configuration has the potential to enable cavity optomechanics in the strong single-photon coupling regime, and to study synchronization in optically linked mechanical resonators. (paper)