Integrated optomechanics finds increasingly broadening
applications,
requiring tight confinement of photons and phonons within nanometric-scale
photonic circuits. However, most existing integrated optomechanical
devices use unconventional materials or suspended structures that
hinder co-integration with scalable photonic technologies. Here, we
show a new optomechanical confinement approach, using subwavelength
structuration of silicon to tightly confine near-infrared photons
and 600-MHz phonons in nonsuspended silicon waveguides, fully compatible
with standard silicon photonics. Indeed, phonons are confined by velocity
reduction in silicon and destructive interference of radiation to
the cladding, while photons are confined by metamaterial index guiding.
We experimentally demonstrate optomechanical microresonators with
optical excitation and readout of mechanical modes with a record quality
factor of 1120 for silicon-on-insulator devices, measured under ambient
conditions and room temperature. The measured optical quality factor
is ∼40,000, and the estimated coupling rate is
51 ± 18 kHz. These results are the first step for
a new generation of optomechanical devices implemented with scalable
silicon photonic technology, having great potential for applications
in optical and wireless communications, radar, sensing, metrology,
and quantum technologies.
We consider the effect of orbital angular momentum (OAM) on localized waves in optical fibers using theory and numerical simulations, focusing on splash pulses and focus wave modes. For splash pulses, our results show that they may carry OAM only up to a certain maximal value. We also examine how one can optically excite these OAM-carrying modes, and discuss potential applications in communications, sensing, and signal filtering.
Simultaneous confinement of optical and mechanical modes is a requirement for an efficient Brillouin effect. In silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides this challenge is solved by removing the silica under-cladding. Here we show that subwavelength engineering of the longitudinal and transversal geometries facilitates independent control of the photonic and phononic modes, hence allowing for strong Brillouin scattering. Here, we present a suspended silicon waveguide where a subwavelength lattice of lateral arms is used to separate the waveguide core from a phononic crystal.
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