Hybrid Optomechanical Cooling with Kerr Magnons and Squeezed Vacuum

Abstract Ground-state cooling is essential for accessing the quantum regime and enabling quantum control of macroscopic systems. However, achieving optomechanical cooling in the unresolved-sideband regime, where the mechanical frequency ω b is smaller than the cavity linewidth κ , remains challenging. In this Letter, we propose an efficient cooling strategy based on a hybrid optomechanical system incorporating a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere embedded in an optomechanical cavity. Under strong cavity driving, the Kerr nonlinearity of the magnons hosted in the YIG sphere gives rise to a two-magnon process. Adiabatic elimination of the magnons yields an effective two-photon process in the cavity, which destructively interferes with backaction-heating channels, surpassing the quantum backaction limit and enabling complete suppression of heating under optimal conditions, even in the deeply unresolved sideband regime, i.e., ω b ≪ κ . Moreover, injecting squeezed vacuum noise into the cavity not only preserves these advantages but also delivers additional enhancements, including higher net cooling rates, reduced optomechanical coupling requirements, and improved noise robustness. Comparative analysis shows that our approach outperforms existing schemes without Kerr magnons, underscoring the potential of integrating nonlinear magnonics with optomechanics for quantum control of macroscopic mechanical systems.