2000/12/01 by Matt Eichenfield, Jasper Chan, Jasper Fuk‐Woo Chan +6 · 7 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced DC-DC Converters #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Photonic and Optical Devices #Terahertz technology and applications #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nature08524
published as Nature 462, 78-82 (2009) · 16 pages, 7 figures
openalex publication_date 2000/12/01 · arxiv created 2009/06/06 · arxiv updated 2011/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Structured, periodic optical materials can be used to form photonic crystals capable of dispersing, routing, and trapping light. A similar phenomena in periodic elastic structures can be used to manipulate mechanical vibrations. Here we present the design and experimental realization of strongly coupled optical and mechanical modes in a planar, periodic nanostructure on a silicon chip. 200-Terahertz photons are co-localized with mechanical modes of Gigahertz frequency and 100-femtogram mass. The effective coupling length, which describes the strength of the photon-phonon interaction, is as small as 2.9 microns, which, together with minute oscillator mass, allows all-optical actuation and transduction of nanomechanical motion with near quantum-limited sensitivity. Optomechanical crystals have many potential applications, from RF-over-optical communication to the study of quantum effects in mesoscopic mechanical systems.