Efficient anchor loss suppression in coupled near-field optomechanical resonators.

Elastic dissipation through radiation towards the substrate is a major loss channel in micro- and nanomechanical resonators. Engineering the coupling of these resonators with optical cavities further complicates and constrains the design of low-loss optomechanical devices. In this work we rely on the coherent cancellation of mechanical radiation to demonstrate material and surface absorption limited silicon near-field optomechanical resonators oscillating at tens of MHz. The effectiveness of our dissipation suppression scheme is investigated at room and cryogenic temperatures. While at room temperature we can reach a maximum quality factor of 7.61k (fQ-product of the order of 1011 Hz), at 22 K the quality factor increases to 37k, resulting in a fQ-product of 2 × 1012 Hz.

Hybrid confinement of optical and mechanical modes in a bullseye optomechanical resonator.

Optomechanical cavities have proven to be an exceptional tool to explore fundamental and applied aspects of the interaction between mechanical and optical waves. Here we demonstrate a novel optomechanical cavity based on a disk with a radial mechanical bandgap. This design confines light and mechanical waves through distinct physical mechanisms which allows for independent control of the mechanical and optical properties. Simulations foresee an optomechanical coupling rate g0 reaching 2π × 100 kHz for mechanical frequencies around 5 GHz as well as anchor loss suppression of 60 dB. Our device design is not limited by unique material properties and could be easily adapted to allow for large optomechanical coupling and high mechanical quality factors with other promising materials. Finally, our devices were fabricated in a commercial silicon photonics facility, demonstrating g0/2π = 23 kHz for mechanical modes with frequencies around 2 GHz and mechanical Q-factors as high as 2300 at room temperature, also showing that our approach can be easily scalable and useful as a new platform for multimode optomechanics.

Photonic-crystal fiber-based pressure sensor for dual environment monitoring.

In this paper the development of a side-hole photonic-crystal fiber (SH-PCF) pressure sensor for dual environment monitoring is reported. SH-PCF properties (phase and group birefringence, sensitivity to pressure variations) are measured and compared to simulated data. In order to probe two environments, two sections of the SH-PCF with different lengths are spliced and set in a Solc filter-like configuration. This setup allows obtaining the individual responses of the first and second fiber independently, which is useful for a space-multiplexed measurement. As the employed fiber is sensitive to pressure variations, we report the use of this configuration for dual environment pressure sensing.