Mechanical on-chip microwave circulator

Nonreciprocal circuit elements form an integral part of modern measurement and communication systems. Mathematically they require breaking of time-reversal symmetry, typically achieved using magnetic materials and more recently using the quantum Hall effect, parametric permittivity modulation or Josephson nonlinearities. Here we demonstrate an on-chip magnetic-free circulator based on reservoir-engineered electromechanic interactions. Directional circulation is achieved with controlled phase-sensitive interference of six distinct electro-mechanical signal conversion paths. The presented circulator is compact, its silicon-on-insulator platform is compatible with both superconducting qubits and silicon photonics, and its noise performance is close to the quantum limit. With a high dynamic range, a tunable bandwidth of up to 30 MHz and an in situ reconfigurability as beam splitter or wavelength converter, it could pave the way for superconducting qubit processors with multiplexed on-chip signal processing and readout.Nonreciprocal optical elements often require magnetic materials in order to break time-reversal symmetry. Here, Barzanjeh et al. demonstrate a magnetic-free on-chip microwave circulator that utilizes the interference from six electro-mechanical signal paths.

Design of a quasi-2D photonic crystal optomechanical cavity with tunable, large x2-coupling

We present the optical and mechanical design of a mechanically compliant quasi-two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity formed from thin-film silicon in which a pair of linear nanoscale slots are used to create two coupled high-Q optical resonances. The optical cavity supermodes, whose frequencies are designed to lie in the 1500 nm wavelength band, are shown to interact strongly with mechanical resonances of the structure whose frequencies range from a few MHz to a few GHz. Depending upon the symmetry of the mechanical modes and the symmetry of the slot sizes, we show that the optomechanical coupling between the optical supermodes can be either linear or quadratic in the mechanical displacement amplitude. Tuning of the nanoscale slot size is also shown to adjust the magnitude and sign of the cavity supermode splitting 2J, enabling near-resonant motional scattering between the two optical supermodes and greatly enhancing the x²-coupling strength. Specifically, for the fundamental flexural mode of the central nanobeam of the structure at 10 MHz the per-phonon linear cross-mode coupling rate is calculated to be g˜_+-/2π=1MHz, corresponding to a per-phonon x²-coupling rate of g˜^'/2π=1kHz for a mode splitting 2J/2π = 1 GHz which is greater than the radiation-limited supermode linewidths.

Quantum electromechanics on silicon nitride nanomembranes

Radiation pressure has recently been used to effectively couple the quantum motion of mechanical elements to the fields of optical or microwave light. Integration of all three degrees of freedom—mechanical, optical and microwave—would enable a quantum interconnect between microwave and optical quantum systems. We present a platform based on silicon nitride nanomembranes for integrating superconducting microwave circuits with planar acoustic and optical devices such as phononic and photonic crystals. Using planar capacitors with vacuum gaps of 60 nm and spiral inductor coils of micron pitch we realize microwave resonant circuits with large electromechanical coupling to planar acoustic structures of nanoscale dimensions and femtoFarad motional capacitance. Using this enhanced coupling, we demonstrate microwave backaction cooling of the 4.48 MHz mechanical resonance of a nanobeam to an occupancy as low as 0.32. These results indicate the viability of silicon nitride nanomembranes as an all-in-one substrate for quantum electro-opto-mechanical experiments.

Preparation and detection of mechanical objects at the quantum zero-point level has been achieved in both the optical and microwave regimes. Here, the authors develop silicon nitride nanomembranes that are suitable for integrating nanophotonic, nanomechanical and superconducting microwave circuits together.

Superradiance for Atoms Trapped along a Photonic Crystal Waveguide

We report observations of superradiance for atoms trapped in the near field of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW). By fabricating the PCW with a band edge near the D(1) transition of atomic cesium, strong interaction is achieved between trapped atoms and guided-mode photons. Following short-pulse excitation, we record the decay of guided-mode emission and find a superradiant emission rate scaling as Γ̅(SR)∝N̅Γ(1D) for average atom number 0.19≲N̅≲2.6 atoms, where Γ(1D)/Γ'=1.0±0.1 is the peak single-atom radiative decay rate into the PCW guided mode, and Γ' is the radiative decay rate into all the other channels. These advances provide new tools for investigations of photon-mediated atom-atom interactions in the many-body regime.

Atom-light interactions in photonic crystals

The integration of nanophotonics and atomic physics has been a long-sought goal that would open new frontiers for optical physics, including novel quantum transport and many-body phenomena with photon-mediated atomic interactions. Reaching this goal requires surmounting diverse challenges in nanofabrication and atomic manipulation. Here we report the development of a novel integrated optical circuit with a photonic crystal capable of both localizing and interfacing atoms with guided photons. Optical bands of a photonic crystal waveguide are aligned with selected atomic transitions. From reflection spectra measured with average atom number N=1.1+/-0.4, we infer that atoms are localized within the waveguide by optical dipole forces. The fraction of single-atom radiative decay into the waveguide is Γ1D/Γ'≃(0.32±0.08), where Γ1D is the rate of emission into the guided mode and Γ' is the decay rate into all other channels. Γ1D/Γ' is unprecedented in all current atom-photon interfaces.

Enhancement of mechanical Q factors by optical trapping

The quality factor of a mechanical resonator is an important figure of merit for various sensing applications and for observing quantum behavior. Here, we demonstrate a technique to push the quality factor of a micromechanical resonator beyond conventional material and fabrication limits by using an optical field to stiffen or trap a particular motional mode. Optical forces increase the oscillation frequency by storing most of the mechanical energy in a nearly lossless optical potential, thereby strongly diluting the effect of material dissipation. By placing a 130 nm thick SiO2 pendulum in an optical standing wave, we achieve an increase in the pendulum center-of-mass frequency from 6.2 to 145 kHz. The corresponding quality factor increases 50-fold from its intrinsic value to a final value of Q=5.8(1.1)×10(5), representing more than an order of magnitude improvement over the conventional limits of SiO2 for this geometry. Our technique may enable new opportunities for mechanical sensing and facilitate observations of quantum behavior in this class of mechanical systems.

A chip-scale integrated cavity-electro-optomechanics platform

We present an integrated optomechanical and electromechanical nanocavity, in which a common mechanical degree of freedom is coupled to an ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal defect cavity and an electrical circuit. The system allows for wide-range, fast electrical tuning of the optical nanocavity resonances, and for electrical control of optical radiation pressure back-action effects such as mechanical amplification (phonon lasing), cooling, and stiffening. These sort of integrated devices offer a new means to efficiently interconvert weak microwave and optical signals, and are expected to pave the way for a new class of micro-sensors utilizing optomechanical back-action for thermal noise reduction and low-noise optical read-out.

Phonon laser action in a tunable two-level system

The phonon analog of an optical laser has long been a subject of interest. We demonstrate a compound microcavity system, coupled to a radio-frequency mechanical mode, that operates in close analogy to a two-level laser system. An inversion produces gain, causing phonon laser action above a pump power threshold of around 7 microW. The device features a continuously tunable gain spectrum to selectively amplify mechanical modes from radio frequency to microwave rates. Viewed as a Brillouin process, the system accesses a regime in which the phonon plays what has traditionally been the role of the Stokes wave. For this reason, it should also be possible to controllably switch between phonon and photon laser regimes. Cooling of the mechanical mode is also possible.

Cavity opto-mechanics using an optically levitated nanosphere

Recently, remarkable advances have been made in coupling a number of high-Q modes of nano-mechanical systems to high-finesse optical cavities, with the goal of reaching regimes in which quantum behavior can be observed and leveraged toward new applications. To reach this regime, the coupling between these systems and their thermal environments must be minimized. Here we propose a novel approach to this problem, in which optically levitating a nano-mechanical system can greatly reduce its thermal contact, while simultaneously eliminating dissipation arising from clamping. Through the long coherence times allowed, this approach potentially opens the door to ground-state cooling and coherent manipulation of a single mesoscopic mechanical system or entanglement generation between spatially separate systems, even in room-temperature environments. As an example, we show that these goals should be achievable when the mechanical mode consists of the center-of-mass motion of a levitated nanosphere.

Growth, processing, and optical properties of epitaxial Er2O3 on silicon

Erbium-doped materials have been investigated for generating and amplifying light in low-power chip-scale optical networks on silicon, but several effects limit their performance in dense microphotonic applications. Stoichiometric ionic crystals are a potential alternative that achieve an Er(3+) density 100 x greater. We report the growth, processing, material characterization, and optical properties of single-crystal Er (2)O(3) epitaxially grown on silicon. A peak Er(3+) resonant absorption of 364 dB/cm at 1535 nm with minimal background loss places a high limit on potential gain. Using high-quality microdisk resonators, we conduct thorough C/L-band radiative efficiency and lifetime measurements and observe strong upconverted luminescence near 550 and 670 nm.

Adiabatic self-tuning in a silicon microdisk optical resonator

We demonstrate a method for adiabatically self-tuning a silicon microdisk resonator. This mechanism is not only able to sensitively probe the fast nonlinear cavity dynamics, but also provides various optical functionalities like pulse compression, shaping, and tunable time delay.

Demonstration of air-guided quantum cascade lasers without top claddings

We report on quantum cascade lasers employing waveguides based on a predominant air confinement mechanism in which the active region is located immediately at the device top surface. The lasers employ ridge-waveguide resonators with narrow lateral electrical contacts only, with a large, central top region not covered by metallization layers. Devices based on this principle have been reported in the past; however, they employed a thick, doped top-cladding layer in order to allow for uniform current injection. We find that the in-plane conductivity of the active region - when the material used is of high quality - provides adequate electrical injection. As a consequence, the devices demonstrated in this work are thinner, and most importantly they can simultaneously support air-guided and surface-plasmon waveguide modes. When the lateral contacts are narrow, the optical mode is mostly located below the air-semiconductor interface. The mode is predominantly air-guided and it leaks from the top surface into the surrounding environment, suggesting that these lasers could be employed for surface-sensing applications. These laser modes are found to operate up to room temperature under pulsed injection, with an emission spectrum centered around l (1/4) 7:66 mum.

An optical fiber-taper probe for wafer-scale microphotonic device characterization

A small depression is created in a straight optical fiber taper to form a local probe suitable for studying closely spaced, planar microphotonic devices. The tension of the "dimpled" taper controls the probe-sample interaction length and the level of noise present during coupling measurements. Practical demonstrations with high-Q silicon microcavities include testing a dense array of undercut microdisks (maximum Q = 3.3 x 10(6)) and a planar microring (Q = 4.8 x 10(6)).

Fiber-coupled microsphere laser

We demonstrate a 1.5-microm - wavelength fiber laser formed by placement of glass microsphere resonators along a fiber taper. The fiber taper serves the dual purpose of transporting optical pump power into the spheres and extracting the resulting laser emission. A highly doped erbium:ytterbium phosphate glass was used to form microsphere resonant cavities with large gain at 1.5microm . Laser threshold pump powers of 60muW and fiber-coupled output powers as high as 3 muW with single-mode operation were obtained. A bisphere laser system consisting of two microspheres attached to a single fiber taper is also demonstrated.

Observation of critical coupling in a fiber taper to a silica-microsphere whispering-gallery mode system

We present the observation of critical coupling in a high- Q fused-silica microsphere whispering-gallery mode resonator coupled to a fiber taper. Extremely efficient and controlled power transfer to high- Q ( approximately 10(7)) resonators has been demonstrated. Off-resonance scattering loss was measured to be less than 0.3%. On-resonance extinction in transmitted optical power through the fiber coupler was measured as high as 26 dB at the critical coupling point. This result opens up a range of new applications in fields as diverse as near-field sensing and quantum optics.

Two-dimensional photonic band-Gap defect mode laser

A laser cavity formed from a single defect in a two-dimensional photonic crystal is demonstrated. The optical microcavity consists of a half wavelength-thick waveguide for vertical confinement and a two-dimensional photonic crystal mirror for lateral localization. A defect in the photonic crystal is introduced to trap photons inside a volume of 2.5 cubic half-wavelengths, approximately 0.03 cubic micrometers. The laser is fabricated in the indium gallium arsenic phosphide material system, and optical gain is provided by strained quantum wells designed for a peak emission wavelength of 1.55 micrometers at room temperature. Pulsed lasing action has been observed at a wavelength of 1.5 micrometers from optically pumped devices with a substrate temperature of 143 kelvin.