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: In this article, the feasibility of the realization of micromachined tunable metamaterials via structure reconfiguration and the current state of the art in the fabrication technologies of structurally reconfigurable metammaterial elements are reviewed.
Abstract: This paper reviews micromachined tunable metamaterials, whereby the tuning capabilities are based on the mechanical reconfiguration of the lattice and/or the metamaterial element geometry. The primary focus of this review is the feasibility of the realization of micromachined tunable metamaterials via structure reconfiguration and the current state of the art in the fabrication technologies of structurally reconfigurable metamaterial elements. The micromachined reconfigurable microstructures not only offer a new tuning method for metamaterials without being limited by the nonlinearity of constituent materials, but also enable a new paradigm of reconfigurable metamaterial-based devices with mechanical actuations. With recent development in nanomachining technology, it is possible to develop structurally reconfigurable metamaterials with faster tuning speed, higher density of integration and more flexible choice of the working frequencies.
284 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the basic physical concepts of cavity optomechanics, and describe some of the most typical experimental cavity optOMEchanical systems for sensing applications, and discuss the noise arising from various sources.
Abstract: The coupling between optical and mechanical degrees of freedom has been of broad interest for a long time. However, it is only until recently, with the rapid development of optical microcavity research, that we are able to manipulate and utilize this coupling process. When a high Q microcavity couples to a mechanical resonator, they can consolidate into an optomechanical system. Benefitting from the unique characteristics offered by optomechanical coupling, this hybrid system has become a promising platform for ultrasensitive sensors to detect displacement, mass, force and acceleration. In this review, we introduce the basic physical concepts of cavity optomechanics, and describe some of the most typical experimental cavity optomechanical systems for sensing applications. Finally, we discuss the noise arising from various sources and show the potentiality of optomechanical sensing towards quantum-noise-limited detection.
78 citations
TL;DR: This paper studies the nonlinear behavior of a nano-optomechanical actuator, consisting of a free-standing arc in a ring resonator that is coupled to a bus waveguide through evanescent waves, which achieves a maximal deflection of 43.1 nm.
Abstract: This paper studies the nonlinear behavior of a nano-optomechanical actuator, consisting of a free-standing arc in a ring resonator that is coupled to a bus waveguide through evanescent waves. The arc deflects when a control light of a fixed wavelength and optical power is pumped into the bus waveguide, while the amount of deflection is monitored by measuring the transmission spectrum of a broadband probe light. This nanoactuator achieves a maximal deflection of 43.1 nm, with a resolution of 0.28 nm. The optical force is a nonlinear function of the deflection of the arc, leading to pull-back instability when the control light is red-tuned. This instability is studied by a combination of experiment and modeling. Potential applications of the nanoactuator include bio-nanomotor, optical switches, and optomechanical memories.
75 citations
TL;DR: The calculation on realistic metal-dielectric multilayer structures indicates that the predicted giant optical forces are achievable in experiments, which will open the door for various optomechanical applications in nanoscale, such as optical nanoelectromechanical systems, optical sensors and actuators.
Abstract: Here we demonstrate that giant transverse optical forces can be generated in nanoscale slot waveguides of hyperbolic metamaterials, with more than two orders of magnitude stronger compared to the force created in conventional silicon slot waveguides, due to the nanoscale optical field enhancement and the extreme optical energy compression within the air slot region. Both numerical simulation and analytical treatment are carried out to study the dependence of the optical forces on the waveguide geometries and the metamaterial permittivity tensors, including the attractive optical forces for the symmetric modes and the repulsive optical forces for the anti-symmetric modes. The significantly enhanced transverse optical forces result from the strong optical mode coupling strength between two metamaterial waveguides, which can be explained with an explicit relation derived from the coupled mode theory. Moreover, the calculation on realistic metal-dielectric multilayer structures indicates that the predicted giant optical forces are achievable in experiments, which will open the door for various optomechanical applications in nanoscale, such as optical nanoelectromechanical systems, optical sensors and actuators.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors survey recent progress in the understanding and experimental observation of optomechanical and quantum-fluctuation forces, and discuss the potential impact and interplay of these forces in emerging experimental regimes of micromechanical devices.
Abstract: Whether intentionally introduced to exert control over particles and macroscopic objects, such as for trapping or cooling, or whether arising from the quantum and thermal fluctuations of charges in otherwise neutral bodies, leading to unwanted stiction between nearby mechanical parts, electromagnetic interactions play a fundamental role in many naturally occurring processes and technologies. In this review, we survey recent progress in the understanding and experimental observation of optomechanical and quantum-fluctuation forces. Although both of these effects arise from exchange of electromagnetic momentum, their dramatically different origins, involving either real or virtual photons, lead to different physical manifestations and design principles. Specifically, we describe recent predictions and measurements of attractive and repulsive optomechanical forces, based on the bonding and antibonding interactions of evanescent waves, as well as predictions of modified and even repulsive Casimir forces between nanostructured bodies. Finally, we discuss the potential impact and interplay of these forces in emerging experimental regimes of micromechanical devices.
41 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the radiation pressure on the surface of a waveguide formed by omnidirectionally reflecting mirrors was studied and it was shown that in the absence of losses, the pressure goes to infinity as the distance between the mirrors is reduced to the cutoff separation of the waveguide mode.
Abstract: We study the radiation pressure on the surface of a waveguide formed by omnidirectionally reflecting mirrors. In the absence of losses, the pressure goes to infinity as the distance between the mirrors is reduced to the cutoff separation of the waveguide mode. This divergence at constant power input is due to the reduction of the modal group velocity to zero, which results in the magnification of the electromagnetic field. Our structure suggests a promising alternative, microscale system for observing the variety of classical and quantum-optical effects associated with radiation pressure in Fabry–Perot cavities.
72 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a long travel electrostatic actuator operated by parallel plate electrodes is presented. The actuator architecture is based on a folded suspension composed of initially curved beams with an actuating force applied along the beams.
Abstract: We report on a long travel electrostatic actuator operated by parallel plate electrodes. The actuator architecture is based on a folded suspension composed of initially curved beams with an actuating force applied along the beams. The straightening of the beams, which are used simultaneously as motion amplifiers and suspension elements, is transformed into the long stroke lateral motion of the actuator and much smaller axial displacement of the beams’ ends. Small distances between electrodes are therefore possible, improving actuator effectiveness. Steep increase in the stiffness of the straightened beams improves actuator stability and leads to the saturation type voltage–displacement dependence. In the vicinity of the inflection point the voltage–displacement dependence is practically linear and therefore of importance for applications. The exact extensible elastica and approximate reduced order models of the actuator are used for the stability analysis. For some range of parameters multistability of the actuator is possible. Actuators of varying configurations were fabricated using SOI wafers and deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). The comparison between the experimental and model results reveals good agreement between the two.
32 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an optical pressure sensor based on the radiation coupling in vertical direction between a channel waveguide and a flexible polymer waveguide is proposed to measure the pressure precisely for a wide range.
Abstract: An optical pressure sensor based on the radiation coupling in vertical direction between a channel waveguide and a flexible polymer waveguide is proposed. The flexible waveguide is bent by an applied pressure to reduce the separation distance between the two waveguides so that the light propagating in the channel waveguide is radiated into the flexible planar waveguide. By applying a pressure ranging from 100 to 500 kPa, the output intensity modulation of 20 dB is obtained by virtue of the efficient phase matched coupling between the waveguides made of the same polymer material. The large extinction ratio is useful to measure the pressure precisely for a wide range.
30 citations
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a finite element method (FEM) was used for the mode analysis of optical waveguides having arbitrary refractive-index profiles and complicated waveguide structures.
Abstract: This chapter focuses on the finite element method (FEM), which is suitable for the mode analysis of optical waveguides having arbitrary refractive-index profiles and complicated waveguide structures. FEM is also applicable to the stress analysis of optical waveguides. The chapter presents the FEM mode analysis of slab waveguides, rectangular waveguides, and optical fibers. Stress analysis of waveguides and the combination of stress analysis with mode analysis are also reviewed. In the finite element method, the domain of the problem is discretized into small elements. Therefore, FEM is applicable to complicated domain structures and to problems in which electromagnetic fields are localized. In FEM, a simple form of function is adopted to approximate the field in each element. The possible error in the solution is alleviated by increasing the number of elements thus reducing the element size. All of the element contributions to the system are assembled to form the functional. Waveguide analysis and stress analysis are totally different problems. However, the discretization procedures and the formulation of the functionals are rather similar in both problems. Such versatility in the mathematical procedures is the great advantage of FEM.
10 citations