Solid-state-based analog of optomechanics

We investigate a semiconductor quantum dot as a microscopic analog of a basic optomechanical setup. We show that optomechanical features can be reproduced by the solid-state platform, arising from parallels of the underlying interaction processes, which in the optomechanical case is the radiation pressure coupling and in the semiconductor case the electron-phonon coupling. We discuss bistabilities, lasing, and phonon damping, and recover the same qualitative behaviors for the semiconductor and the optomechanical cases expected for low driving strengths. However, in contrast to the optomechanical case, distinct signatures of higher order processes arise in the semiconductor model.