Optical and mechanical mode tuning in an optomechanical crystal with light-induced thermal effects

Abstract

We report on the modification of the optical and mechanical properties of a silicon 1D optomechanical crystal cavity due to thermo-optic effects in a high phonon/photon population regime. The cavity heats up due to light absorption in a way that shifts the optical modes towards longer wavelengths and the mechanical modes to lower frequencies. By combining the experimental optical results with finite-difference time-domain simulations we establish a direct relation between the observed wavelength drift and the actual effective temperature increase of the cavity. By assuming that the Young's modulus decreases accordingly to the temperature increase, we find a good agreement between the mechanical mode drift predicted using a finite element method and the experimental one.

arXiv comment16 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Laser cooling of a nanomechanical oscillator into its quantum ground state
• Sideband Cooling Micromechanical Motion to the Quantum Ground State
• Optomechanical Crystals
• Direct Measurement of Room Temperature Non-diffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane
• Actuation of Micro-Optomechanical Systems Via Cavity-Enhanced Optical Dipole Forces
• Ultra-low loss single-mode silica tapers manufactured by a microheater
• Characterization of radiation pressure and thermal effects in a nanoscale optomechanical cavity
• Miniature GaAs disk resonators probed by a looped fiber taper for optomechanics applications

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Microwave generation and frequency comb in a silicon optomechanical cavity with a full phononic bandgap
• Optomechanical generation of coherent GHz vibrations in a phononic waveguide
• Optomechanical crystals for spatial sensing of submicron sized analytes
• Cascaded injection locking of optomechanical crystal oscillators