Nano-opto-mechanical actuator driven by gradient optical force
TL;DR: In this paper, a nanoscale opto-mechanical actuator driven by gradient optical force is designed and demonstrated, which can achieve a maximum displacement of 67 nm with a response time of 94.5 nm.
Abstract: In this letter, a nanoscale opto-mechanical actuator driven by gradient optical force is designed and demonstrated. The nanoscale actuator can achieve a maximum displacement of 67 nm with a response time of 94.5 ns. The optical force is estimated as 1.01 pN/μm/mW in C-band operating wavelengths. The device is fabricated on silicon-on-insulator wafer using standard dry etching processes. Compared with traditional microelectromechanical systems actuators driven by electrostatic force, the nanoscale opto-mechanical actuator has the advantages of high resolution of actuation, nanoscale displacement, and fast operating speed. It has potential applications in optical signal processing, chemical, and biological sensing.
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TL;DR: The use of resonance modes of double-coupled one-dimensional photonic crystal cavities to generate bipolar optical forces is experimentally demonstrated and the optomechanical shift of the second-order even probe mode is found to be about 2.5 times its thermal shift, indicating a highly efficient conversion of light energy to mechanical energy.
Abstract: Nanoscale all-optical circuits driven by optical forces have broad applications in future communication, computation, and sensing systems. Because human society faces huge challenges of energy saving and emission reduction, it is very important to develop energy-efficient nano-optomechanical devices. Due to their high quality (Q) factors, resonance modes of cavities are capable of generating much larger forces than waveguide modes. Here we experimentally demonstrate the use of resonance modes of double-coupled one-dimensional photonic crystal cavities to generate bipolar optical forces. Attractive and repulsive forces of -6.2 nN and 1.9 nN were obtained with respective launching powers of 0.81 mW and 0.87 mW in the waveguide just before cavities. Supported by flexible nanosprings (spring constant 0.166 N/m), one cavity is pulled to (pushed away from) the other cavity by 37.1 nm (11.4 nm). The shifts of the selected resonance modes of the device are mechanically and thermally calibrated with an integrated nanoelectromechanical system actuator and a temperature-controlled testing platform respectively. Based on these experimentally-obtained relations, probe mode shifts due to the optomechanical effect are decoupled from those due to the thermo-optic effect. Actuated by the third-order even pump mode, the optomechanical shift of the second-order even probe mode is found to be about 2.5 times its thermal shift, indicating a highly efficient conversion of light energy to mechanical energy.
24 citations
TL;DR: Optically-controlled extinction ratio (ER) and Q-factor tunable silicon microring resonators using optical forces are presented and a wide ER tuning range from 5.6 to 34.2dB is achieved.
Abstract: Tunability is a desirable property of microring resonators to facilitate superior performance. Using light to control light, we present an alternative simple approach to tuning the extinction ratio (ER) and Q-factor of silicon microring resonators based on optical forces. We design an opto-mechanical tunable silicon microring resonator consisting of an add-drop microring resonator and a control-light-carrying waveguide (“controlling” waveguide). One of the two bus waveguides of the microring resonator is a deformable nanostring put in parallel with the “controlling” waveguide. The tuning mechanism relies on the optical force induced deflection of suspended nanostring, leading to the change of coupling coefficient of microring and resultant tuning of ER and Q-factor. Two possible geometries, i.e. double-clamped nanostring and cantilever nanostring, are studied in detail for comparison. The obtained results imply a favorable structure with the microring positioned at the end of the cantilever nanostring. It features a wide tuning range of ER from 5.6 to 39.9 dB and Q-factor from 309 to 639 as changing the control power from 0 to 1.4 mW.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an approach to experimentally determine the optomechanical coupling coefficient of coupled cavities, taking advantage of the ultra-fine cavity positioning capability of a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) actuator design, is presented.
Abstract: In this Letter, we report an approach to experimentally determine the optomechanical coupling coefficient of coupled cavities, taking advantage of the ultra-fine cavity positioning capability of a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) actuator design. The approach is simple and flexible and can measure the optomechanical coupling coefficient as a function of the coupled cavities' slot gap. In addition, the ratio of mechanical detunings of the odd and even resonance modes can make the existing approach to the decoupling of thermo-optic and optomechanical effects more precise and applicable to more types of cavities.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a simple and precise measurement method for high-frequency dynamic displacement is proposed, which uses a fiber optic interferometer with a LiNbO3 phase modulator in the reference path.
Abstract: We propose a simple and precise measurement method for high-frequency dynamic displacement It uses a fiber optic interferometer with a LiNbO3 phase modulator in the reference path The phase of the reference light is modulated with high-frequency triangle wave By monitoring the interference signal waveform, the change in the phase difference of the fiber interferometer and the displacement are measured without either complex calculation or complicated feedback system The proof-of-concept experiments show that displacement waveforms with relatively large amplitudes of several tens of nanometers are measured without distortion even when the vibration frequency is 1 MHz
21 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, it is hypothesized that similar acceleration and trapping are possible with atoms and molecules using laser light tuned to specific optical transitions, and the implications for isotope separation and other applications of physical interest are discussed.
Abstract: Micron-sized particles have been accelerated and trapped in stable optical potential wells using only the force of radiation pressure from a continuous laser. It is hypothesized that similar accelerations and trapping are possible with atoms and molecules using laser light tuned to specific optical transitions. The implications for isotope separation and other applications of physical interest are discussed.
4,516 citations
TL;DR: Recent experiments have reached a regime where the back-action of photons caused by radiation pressure can influence the optomechanical dynamics, giving rise to a host of long-anticipated phenomena.
Abstract: The coupling of optical and mechanical degrees of freedom is the underlying principle of many techniques to measure mechanical displacement, from macroscale gravitational wave detectors to microscale cantilevers used in scanning probe microscopy. Recent experiments have reached a regime where the back-action of photons caused by radiation pressure can influence the optomechanical dynamics, giving rise to a host of long-anticipated phenomena. Here we review these developments and discuss the opportunities for innovative technology as well as for fundamental science.
1,718 citations
TL;DR: An approach to optofluidic transport that overcomes limitations, using sub-wavelength liquid-core slot waveguides, and provides the ability to handle extended biomolecules directly.
Abstract: The ability to manipulate nanoscopic matter precisely is critical for the development of active nanosystems. Optical tweezers are excellent tools for transporting particles ranging in size from several micrometres to a few hundred nanometres. Manipulation of dielectric objects with much smaller diameters, however, requires stronger optical confinement and higher intensities than can be provided by these diffraction-limited systems. Here we present an approach to optofluidic transport that overcomes these limitations, using sub-wavelength liquid-core slot waveguides. The technique simultaneously makes use of near-field optical forces to confine matter inside the waveguide and scattering/adsorption forces to transport it. The ability of the slot waveguide to condense the accessible electromagnetic energy to scales as small as 60 nm allows us also to overcome the fundamental diffraction problem. We apply the approach here to the trapping and transport of 75-nm dielectric nanoparticles and lambda-DNA molecules. Because trapping occurs along a line, rather than at a point as with traditional point traps, the method provides the ability to handle extended biomolecules directly. We also carry out a detailed numerical analysis that relates the near-field optical forces to release kinetics. We believe that the architecture demonstrated here will help to bridge the gap between optical manipulation and nanofluidics.
776 citations
TL;DR: Measurements of an optical system consisting of a pair of specially patterned nanoscale beams in which optical and mechanical energies are simultaneously localized to a cubic-micron-scale volume and for which large per-photon optical gradient forces are realized enable the exploration of cavity optomechanical regimes.
Abstract: The dynamic back-action caused by electromagnetic forces (radiation pressure) in optical and microwave cavities is of growing interest. Back-action cooling, for example, is being pursued as a means of achieving the quantum ground state of macroscopic mechanical oscillators. Work in the optical domain has revolved around millimetre- or micrometre-scale structures using the radiation pressure force. By comparison, in microwave devices, low-loss superconducting structures have been used for gradient-force-mediated coupling to a nanomechanical oscillator of picogram mass. Here we describe measurements of an optical system consisting of a pair of specially patterned nanoscale beams in which optical and mechanical energies are simultaneously localized to a cubic-micron-scale volume, and for which large per-photon optical gradient forces are realized. The resulting scale of the per-photon force and the mass of the structure enable the exploration of cavity optomechanical regimes in which, for example, the mechanical rigidity of the structure is dominantly provided by the internal light field itself. In addition to precision measurement and sensitive force detection, nano-optomechanics may find application in reconfigurable and tunable photonic systems, light-based radio-frequency communication and the generation of giant optical nonlinearities for wavelength conversion and optical buffering.
749 citations