Abstract:The possibility of creating and manipulating nanostructured materials encouraged the exploration of new strategies to control electromagnetic properties. Among the most intriguing nanostructures are those that respond differently to helical polarization, i.e., exhibit chirality. Here, we present a simple structure based on crossed elongated bars where light-handedness defines the dominating cross-section absorption or scattering, with a 200 % difference from its counterpart (scattering or absorption). The prop… Show more
“…1,4,[6][7][8][9][10] Excitation and detection at different wavelengths is another method to improve the phonon signal that has been applied in plasmonic resonators and quantum dot layer systems. [11][12][13] However, most of these approaches are based on altering experimental conditions. In this work, we use micropillars with elliptical cross-sections to enhance the phonon amplitude based on a standard pumpprobe scheme with one single wavelength and normal incidence on the sample.…”
Optophononic resonators based on GaAs/AlAs multilayer structures can confine near-infrared photons and subterahertz phonons. Previous works have studied the generation and detection of coherent acoustic phonons in planar and circular micropillar cavities. However, these structures exhibit only one optical cavity mode, which makes it challenging to reach the efficient generation and sensitive detection simultaneously in a standard pumpprobe experiment. Here, we propose the use of elliptical micropillars to reach an improved condition of these two processes. The elliptical cross-section of the microcavity lifts the degeneracy of the fundamental optical modes, related to each of its major and minor axes. By tuning the pump pulses in resonance with one optical mode, the generation efficiency is enhanced by maximizing the electromagnetic field inside the cavity. Meanwhile, the probe pulses at the same wavelength and with orthogonal polarization detects phonons at the slope of the other mode, where it is sensitive to reflectivity changes. We experimentally demonstrated that the phonon amplitude is enhanced by introducing the ellipticity compared to the circular micropillar. This improvement is promising for future developments in constructing efficient phonon transducers.
“…1,4,[6][7][8][9][10] Excitation and detection at different wavelengths is another method to improve the phonon signal that has been applied in plasmonic resonators and quantum dot layer systems. [11][12][13] However, most of these approaches are based on altering experimental conditions. In this work, we use micropillars with elliptical cross-sections to enhance the phonon amplitude based on a standard pumpprobe scheme with one single wavelength and normal incidence on the sample.…”
Optophononic resonators based on GaAs/AlAs multilayer structures can confine near-infrared photons and subterahertz phonons. Previous works have studied the generation and detection of coherent acoustic phonons in planar and circular micropillar cavities. However, these structures exhibit only one optical cavity mode, which makes it challenging to reach the efficient generation and sensitive detection simultaneously in a standard pumpprobe experiment. Here, we propose the use of elliptical micropillars to reach an improved condition of these two processes. The elliptical cross-section of the microcavity lifts the degeneracy of the fundamental optical modes, related to each of its major and minor axes. By tuning the pump pulses in resonance with one optical mode, the generation efficiency is enhanced by maximizing the electromagnetic field inside the cavity. Meanwhile, the probe pulses at the same wavelength and with orthogonal polarization detects phonons at the slope of the other mode, where it is sensitive to reflectivity changes. We experimentally demonstrated that the phonon amplitude is enhanced by introducing the ellipticity compared to the circular micropillar. This improvement is promising for future developments in constructing efficient phonon transducers.
Coherent acoustic phonon generation and detection assisted by optical resonances are at the core of efficient optophononic transduction processes. However, when one is dealing with a single optical resonance, the optimum generation and detection conditions occur at different laser wavelengths, i.e., different detunings from the cavity mode. In this work, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate the use of elliptical micropillars to reach these conditions simultaneously at a single wavelength. Elliptical micropillar optophononic resonators present two optical modes with orthogonal polarizations at different wavelengths. By using a cross-polarization-scheme pump-probe experiment, we exploit the mode splitting and couple the pump beam to one mode while the probe is detuned from the other mode. In this way, at a particular micropillar ellipticity, the phonon-generation and phonon-detection processes are both enhanced. We report an enhancement of the coherent-phonon-generation-detection process by a factor of approximately 3.1 when comparing the highest achievable signals from elliptical and circular micropillars. Our findings constitute a step forward in tailoring light-matter interaction for more-efficient ultrahigh-frequency optophononic devices.
Published by the American Physical Society
2024
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.