Photon Pressure with an Effective Negative Mass Microwave Mode

Abstract

Harmonic oscillators belong to the most fundamental concepts in physics and are central to many current research fields such as circuit QED, cavity optomechanics, and photon pressure systems. Here, we engineer a microwave mode in a superconducting LC circuit that mimics the dynamics of a negative mass oscillator, and couple it via photon pressure to a second low-frequency circuit. We demonstrate that the effective negative mass dynamics lead to an inversion of dynamical backaction and to sideband cooling of the low-frequency circuit by a blue-detuned pump field, which can be intuitively understood by the inverted energy ladder of a negative mass oscillator.