Optomecânica em cavidades de cristal fotônico

Author(s)

Rodrigo da Silva Benevides

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin
• Defense date: 2016-08-07

Examining board members

Thiago Pedro Mayer Alegre; Leonardo de Souza Menezes; Paulo Clóvis Dainese Júnior

• Advisor: Thiago Pedro Mayer Alegre

Abstract

The field of cavity optomechanics has experienced a rapid growth in last decade. The increasing interest in this area was mostly driven by the intricate interface between mechanical motion and the optical field. Such coupling is widely explored in a variety of experiments scaling from kilometer long interferometers to micrometer optical cavities. The challenge on all these experiments is to create an optomechanical device with long-living optical and mechanical resonances while keeping a large coupling rate. In this context photonic crystal cavities have emerged as a strong candidate since they are able to produce very small optical mode volume and long optical lifetime. In the classical regime, these tiny devices, which can mechanically oscillate from frequencies ranging from couple MHz up to tens of GHz, allows for highly sensitive small forces, masses, displacements and acceleration detectors. They are also used to produce high quality optically driven mechanical oscillators which can be synchronized via an optical field. In the quantum regime, cavity quantum optomechanics is being used to understand decoherence phenomena in a mesoscopic scale by creating nonclassical states between light and mechanical modes intermediated by optomechanical interaction. However up to now, few studies have been done concerning the possibility of large scale production of these devices, a necessary step towards massive technological and scientific application of these devices. In this work, we describe a detailed study of optomechanical cavities based upon photonic crystal cavities fabricated in a CMOS-compatible commercial foundry. We prove the feasibility of this platform exploring three photonic crystal designs. First, we show how to achieve ultra-high optical quality factors using a design resilient to the fabrication constrains. Our demonstrated quality factors are the largest ever reported using photonic crystal cavities manufactured by optical lithography. Secondly, we investigate a slot type optical cavity, able to produce very large optomechanical coupling using a simple in-plane motion. Finally, we design a trimmable acoustic shield to restrict the mechanical motion inside the optical region. Such strategy was successfully used to produce high mechanical quality factor and optomechanical coupling which enabled the observation of cooling and amplification of mechanical modes at low temperature (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/12875-4 - Photonic and phononic crystals
• Grantee: Rodrigo da Silva Benevides
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master