Coherent coupling between radio frequency, optical, and acoustic waves in piezo-optomechanical circuits

Published

March 28, 2016

Author(s)

Krishna Coimbatore Balram, Marcelo I. Davanco, Jin Dong Song, Kartik Srinivasan

Abstract

Optomechanical cavities have been studied for applications ranging from sensing to quantum information science. Here, we develop a platform for nanoscale cavity optomechanical circuits in which optomechanical cavities supporting colocalized 1550 nm photons and 2.4 GHz phonons are combined with photonic and phononic waveguides. Working in GaAs facilitates manipulation of the localized mechanical mode either with a radiofrequency field through the piezo-electric effect, which produces acoustic waves that are routed and coupled to the optomechanical cavity by phononic-crystal waveguides, or optically through the strong photoelastic effect. Together with mechanical state preparation and sensitive readout, we use this to demonstrate an acoustic wave interference effect, similar to atomic coherent population trapping, in which radiofrequency-driven coherent mechanical motion is cancelled by optically driven motion. Manipulating cavity optomechanical systems with equal facility through both photonic and phononic channels enables new architectures for signal transduction between the optical, electrical and mechanical domains.

Citation

Nature Photonics

Volume

10

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.46

Local Download

Citation

Coimbatore Balram, K. , Davanco, M. , Song, J. and Srinivasan, K. (2016), Coherent coupling between radio frequency, optical, and acoustic waves in piezo-optomechanical circuits, Nature Photonics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.46, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=919002 (Accessed October 12, 2025)