Characterization of radiation pressure and thermal effects in a nanoscale optomechanical cavity

Abstract

Optical forces in guided-wave nanostructures have recently been proposed as an effective means of mechanically actuating and tuning optical components. In this work, we study the properties of a photonic crystal optomechanical cavity consisting of a pair of patterned silicon nitride nanobeams. Internal stresses in the stoichiometric silicon nitride thin-film are used to produce inter-beam slot-gaps ranging from 560 to 40nm. A general pump-probe measurement scheme is described which determines, self-consistently, the contributions of thermo-mechanical, thermo-optic, and radiation pressure effects. For devices with 40nm slot-gap, the optical gradient force is measured to be 134fN per cavity photon for the strongly coupled symmetric cavity supermode, producing a static cavity tuning greater than five times that of either the parasitic thermo-mechanical or thermo-optic effects.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

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• Bonding, antibonding and tunable optical forces in asymmetric membranes
• Optomechanical zipper cavity lasers: theoretical analysis of tuning range and stability
• Integrated optical-readout of a high-Q mechanical out-of-plane mode
• Multimode optomechanics with a two-dimensional optomechanical crystal
• Active-feedback quantum control of an integrated low-frequency mechanical resonator
• Optical and mechanical mode tuning in an optomechanical crystal with light-induced thermal effects