Feedback-enhanced squeezing or cooling of fluctuations in a parametric resonator

Abstract

Here we analyse ways to achieve deep subthreshold parametric squeezing of fluctuations beyond the $-6$~dB limit of single degree-of-freedom parametric resonators. One way of accomplishing this is via a lock-in amplifier feedback loop. Initially, we calculate the phase-dependent parametric amplification with feedback of an added ac signal. In one approach, we use the averaging method to obtain the amplification gain, while in the second approach, we obtain the ac response of the parametric amplifier with feedback using the harmonic balance method. In this latter approach, the feedback is proportional to an integral term that emulates the cosine quadrature output of a lock-in amplifier multiplied by a sine at the same tone of the lock-in. We find that the gain obtained via these two methods are the same whenever the integration time span of the integral is a multiple of the tone period. When this is not the case, we can obtain considerable deamplification. Finally, we analyse the response of the parametric resonator with feedback, described by this integro-differential model, to an added white noise in the frequency domain. Using this model we were able to calculate, in addition to squeezing, the noise spectral density in this resonator with feedback. Very strong squeezing or cooling can be obtained.