Fabrication of acoustic devices embedded in ZnO/SiO2 microcavities

• Grant number: 13/12311-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: September 20, 2013
• End date: December 19, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Odilon Divino Damasceno Couto Júnior
• Grantee: Odilon Divino Damasceno Couto Júnior
• Host Investigator: Paulo Ventura Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik (PDI), Germany

Abstract

The generation of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on piezoelectric semiconductor substrates, such as GaAs, allows for the application of the SAW strain and piezoelectric fields to manipulate elementary excitations (like carriers, spins, and photons) in low dimensional semiconductor nanostructures. The induction of carrier transport and modulation of the optical properties in III-V semiconductor nanostructures using SAW fields has lead to outstanding research achievements in areas like spintronics and nanophotonics. One of the present limitations of SAW-mediated acousto-optics arise from the weak coupling to optical fields. In this project, we will address this issue by designing acoustic-optical microcavities to confine simultaneously both the optical and acoustic fields. We propose to fabricate piezo-electric microcavities based on ZnO/SiO2 layers with embedded interdigital transducers. The latter will generate acoustic waves within the spacer region of the microcavitiy, where the optical field is concentrated. By confining the acoustic and optical modes on the same region of space, we expect to considerably enhance acousto-optical effects, thus allowing the investigation on a number of new systems. In particular, the microcavities can be fabricated on silicon based structures, thus opening the way for integration of the acoustic wave technique with CMOS technology. (AU)