Thermo-optical bistability in silicon micro-cantilevers

Abstract

We report a thermo-optical bistability observed in silicon micro-cantilevers irradiated by a laser beam with mW powers: reflectivity, transmissivity, absorption, and temperature can change by a factor of two between two stable states for the same input power. The temperature dependency of the absorption at the origin of the bistability results from interferences between internal reflections in the cantilever thickness, acting as a lossy Fabry-Pérot cavity. A theoretical model describing the thermo-optical coupling is presented. The experimental results obtained for silicon cantilevers irradiated in vacuum at two different visible wavelengths are in quantitative agreement with the predictions of this model.

arXiv commentSubmitted to SciPost Physics

References in corpus (6)

• Quantum-coherent coupling of a mechanical oscillator to an optical cavity mode
• Direct Measurement of Room Temperature Non-diffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane
• Single-molecule optical absorption imaging by nanomechanical photothermal sensing at room temperature
• Quadrature phase interferometer for high resolution force spectroscopy
• Resonance frequency shift of strongly heated micro-cantilevers
• Silicon cantilevers locally heated from 300K up to the melting point: temperature profile measurement from their resonances frequency shift

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Thermal noise of a cryo-cooled silicon cantilever locally heated up to its melting point
• Force microscopy cantilevers locally heated in a fluid: temperature fields and effects on the dynamics
• Thermo-optic hysteresis with bound states in the continuum
• Temporal coupled mode theory for high-$Q$ resonances in dielectric metasurfaces
• Accelerating the heat diffusion: fast thermal relaxation of a microcantilever