Slow thermo-optomechanical pulsations in suspended 1D photonic crystal nanocavities

We investigate the nonlinear optical response of suspended 1D photonic crystal nanocavities fabricated on a silicon nitride chip. Strong thermo-optical nonlinearities are demonstrated for input powers as low as \(2\,\mu\text{W}\) and a self-sustained pulsing regime is shown to emerge with periodicit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2020-09
Main Authors: Fonseca, Piergiacomo Z G, Alda, Irene, Marino, Francesco, Cuadrado, Alexander, d'Ambrosio, Vincenzo, Gieseler, Jan, Quidant, Romain
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Mathematical models
Nonlinear response
Periodic variations
Photonic crystals
Relaxation oscillations
Silicon nitride
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Summary:We investigate the nonlinear optical response of suspended 1D photonic crystal nanocavities fabricated on a silicon nitride chip. Strong thermo-optical nonlinearities are demonstrated for input powers as low as \(2\,\mu\text{W}\) and a self-sustained pulsing regime is shown to emerge with periodicity of several seconds. As the input power and laser wavelength are varied the temporal patterns change in period, duty cycle and shape. This dynamics is attributed to the multiple timescale competition between thermo-optical and thermo-optomechanical effects and closely resembles the relaxation oscillations states found in mathematical models of neuronal activity. We introduce a simplified model that reproduces all the experimental observations and allows us to explain them in terms of the properties of a 1D critical manifold which governs the slow evolution of the system.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2009.02803