A picogram- and nanometre-scale photonic-crystal optomechanical cavity

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 domai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2009-05, Vol.459 (7246), p.550-555
Main Authors: Camacho, Ryan, Chan, Jasper, Eichenfield, Matt, Vahala, Kerry J, Painter, Oskar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cavity resonators
Chemicals
Crystal lattices
Electromagnetics
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, electrons, and ions
multidisciplinary
Observations
Optics
Particle beams
Physics
Properties
Quantum optics
Rigidity
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Silicon nitride
Silicon wafers
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature08061