A chip-scale integrated cavity-electro-optomechanics platform
M. Winger, T. D. Blasius, T. P. Mayer Alegre, A. H. Safavi-Naeini, S. Meenehan, J. Cohen, S. Stobbe, and O. Painter
Optics Express, 19, 24905-24921 (2011)
doi:10.1364/OE.19.024905
We present an integrated optomechanical and electromechanical nanocavity, in which a common mechanical degree of freedom is coupled to an ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal defect cavity and an electrical circuit. The system allows for wide-range, fast electrical tuning of the optical nanocavity resonances, and for electrical control of optical radiation pressure back-action effects such as mechanical amplification (phonon lasing), cooling, and stiffening. These sort of integrated devices offer a new means to efficiently interconvert weak microwave and optical signals, and are expected to pave the way for a new class of micro-sensors utilizing optomechanical back-action for thermal noise reduction and low-noise optical read-out.