NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.
Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Optical detection of radio waves through a nanomechanical transducer
Published
Author(s)
Jacob M. Taylor, Tolga Bagci, A Simonsen, Silvan Schmid, L Villanueva, Emil Zeuthen, Anders Sorensen, Koji Usami, A Schliesser, E.S. Polzik
Abstract
Low-loss transmission and sensitive recovery of weak radio-frequency (rf) and mi- crowave signals is an ubiquitous technological challenge, crucial in fields as diverse as radio astronomy, medical imaging, navigation and communication, including those of quantum states. Efficient upconversion of rf-signals to an optical carrier would al- low transmitting them via optical fibers instead of copper wires dramatically reducing losses, and give access to the mature toolbox of quantum optical techniques, routinely enabling quantum-limited signal detection. Research in the field of cavity optomechan- ics [1, 2] has shown that nanomechanical oscillators can couple very strongly to either microwave [35] or optical fields [6, 7]. An oscillator accommodating both these func- tionalities would bear great promise as the intermediate platform in a radio-to-optical transduction cascade. Here, we demonstrate such an opto-electro-mechanical trans- ducer following a recent proposal [8] utilizing a high-Q nanomembrane. A moderate voltage bias (Vdc
Taylor, J.
, Bagci, T.
, Simonsen, A.
, Schmid, S.
, Villanueva, L.
, Zeuthen, E.
, Sorensen, A.
, Usami, K.
, Schliesser, A.
and Polzik, E.
(2014),
Optical detection of radio waves through a nanomechanical transducer, Nature, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13029
(Accessed October 10, 2025)