Synthetic Magnetic Fields and Non-Hermitian Dynamics for Phonons in a Nano-Optomechanical System

Synthetic gauge fields can be harnessed to engineer unconventional transport and localization of energy by breaking time-reversal symmetry. Nano-optomechanical systems combine photonics with mechanics to address mechanical modes via (modulated) radiation pressure and read-out motion optically. Optomechanical cavities, such as those formed by nanofabricated strings that vibrate like strings on a guitar, allow optical tuning of the spring constant and the realization of strong effective interactions between phononic modes that imprint nonreciprocal Peierls phases – akin to the Aharonov-Bohm effect for electrons [1]. Furthermore, parametric driving induces non-Hermitian dynamics and allow the engineering of gain and loss.