Experimental exploration of synchronization in scalable oscillator microsystems has unfolded a deeper understanding of networks, collective phenomena, and signal processing. Cavity optomechanical devices have played an important role in this scenario, with the perspective of bridging optical and radio frequencies through nonlinear classical and quantum synchronization concepts. In its simplest form, synchronization occurs when an oscillator is entrained by a signal with frequency nearby the oscillator’s tone, and becomes increasingly challenging as their frequency detuning increases. Here, we experimentally demonstrate entrainment of a silicon-nitride optomechanical oscillator driven up to the fourth harmonic of its 32 MHz fundamental frequency. Exploring this effect, we also experimentally demonstrate a purely optomechanical RF frequency divider, where we performed frequency division up to a 4:1 ratio, i.e., from 128 MHz to 32 MHz. Further developments could harness these effects towards frequency synthesizers, phase-sensitive amplification and nonlinear sensing.
Recent exploration of collective phenomena in oscillator arrays has highlighted the potential to access a range of physical phenomena, from fundamental quantum many-body dynamics to the solution of practical optimization problems using photonic Ising machines. Spontaneous oscillations often arise in these oscillator arrays as an imbalance between gain and loss. Due to coupling between individual arrays, the spontaneous oscillation is constrained and leads to interesting collective behavior, such as synchronized oscillations in optomechanical oscillator arrays, ferromagnetic-like coupling in delay-coupled optical parametric oscillators, and binary phase states in coupled laser arrays. A key aspect of arrays is not only the coupling between the individuals but also their compliance toward neighbor stimuli. One self-sustaining photonic oscillator that can be readily implemented in a scalable foundry-based technology is based on the interaction of free carriers, temperature, and the optical field of a resonant silicon photonic microcavity. Here, we demonstrate that these silicon thermal free-carrier (FC) oscillators are extremely compliant to external excitation and can be synchronized up to their 16th harmonic using a weak seed. Exploring this unprecedented compliance to external stimuli, we also demonstrate robust synchronization between two thermal FC oscillators.
We demonstrate through numerical simulations that Z-cut Lithium Niobate on Insulator (LNOI) ridge waveguides may support confined short-wavelength surface acoustic waves that strongly interact with optical fields through backward Brillouin scattering.
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