Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FOWLING (Free-space optomechanics with light-emitting materials)
Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2022-11-30
Optomechanics is the study of the interaction between light and matter. Its study has significant societal implications, with recent advances such as the experimental observation of gravitational waves in LIGO, or in the cooling of atoms down to their motional grown state. More generally, optomechanics is able to utilize light to control mechanical motion, enabling applications such as extremely sensitive mass and force sensors. FOWLING primarily aimed to study nanoscale optomechanical crystal systems in higher dimensional systems beyond standard 1D nanobeams. The work focused on the study of the generation, manipulation, and detection of phonons within these optomechanical systems, which could also help pave the way towards realizing phononic circuits.
The relevance to society lies in the field of radio frequency-optical coupling, which could potentially enable low energy information processing. The beneficiary demonstrated important pathways, from design to measurement, of types of nano fabricated structures suitable for operation in the GHz (mechanical) and THz (optical) ranges. These structures could impact devices such as sensors or high frequency filters, or play a role in optical communications and contribute towards enriching fundamental knowledge towards using phonons for information and communication technologies, as phonons would need less power compared to electrons and photons.
The research work substantially enhanced the MS Curie Fellow research skills in preparation for a leading position in academia or industry. The outcomes were disseminated in high impact journals, with some still to be submitted (with a total number expected to reach 13 publications by the end of 2024). The beneficiary disseminated his work internationally in an invited talk and a contributed talk. Furthermore, a research stay in another group (European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy in Florence, Italy) provided him with experience in working with quantum optics and organic molecule light-emitters.
The relevance to society lies in the field of radio frequency-optical coupling, which could potentially enable low energy information processing. The beneficiary demonstrated important pathways, from design to measurement, of types of nano fabricated structures suitable for operation in the GHz (mechanical) and THz (optical) ranges. These structures could impact devices such as sensors or high frequency filters, or play a role in optical communications and contribute towards enriching fundamental knowledge towards using phonons for information and communication technologies, as phonons would need less power compared to electrons and photons.
The research work substantially enhanced the MS Curie Fellow research skills in preparation for a leading position in academia or industry. The outcomes were disseminated in high impact journals, with some still to be submitted (with a total number expected to reach 13 publications by the end of 2024). The beneficiary disseminated his work internationally in an invited talk and a contributed talk. Furthermore, a research stay in another group (European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy in Florence, Italy) provided him with experience in working with quantum optics and organic molecule light-emitters.
Within the scope of FOWLING, we demonstrated optomechanics in multiple 2D optomechanical crystal platforms. Key results include:
- Exploitation of disorder-induced localized modes resulting from imperfections that are driven for the transduction of mechanics (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, recently accepted in Physical Review Letters)
- The development and characterization of a phononic crystal system that exhibited extremely wide mechanical band gaps in the GHz regime, as well as the demonstration of a technique to directly observe and experimentally map mechanical dispersions (disseminated via a publication in Nature Nanotechnology, and international conference presentations)
- By combining these previous two platforms, we demonstrated a coherent GHz phonon source generated in a waveguide that opens the possibility for coupling of the mechanical mode to another external waveguide system. (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, currently undergoing peer review)
- This work was extended, exploring new dynamical multimode regimes and demonstrating optical control of mechanical signals. (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, currently undergoing peer review)
- By placing light-emitting molecules onto these optomechanical crystals, it was found that these molecules could act as spatially-resolved temperature sensors at cryogenic temperatures without the need for any additional invasive on-chip electronics. (manuscript in preparation)
- Exploitation of disorder-induced localized modes resulting from imperfections that are driven for the transduction of mechanics (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, recently accepted in Physical Review Letters)
- The development and characterization of a phononic crystal system that exhibited extremely wide mechanical band gaps in the GHz regime, as well as the demonstration of a technique to directly observe and experimentally map mechanical dispersions (disseminated via a publication in Nature Nanotechnology, and international conference presentations)
- By combining these previous two platforms, we demonstrated a coherent GHz phonon source generated in a waveguide that opens the possibility for coupling of the mechanical mode to another external waveguide system. (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, currently undergoing peer review)
- This work was extended, exploring new dynamical multimode regimes and demonstrating optical control of mechanical signals. (disseminated via international conference presentations and an arXiv pre-print, currently undergoing peer review)
- By placing light-emitting molecules onto these optomechanical crystals, it was found that these molecules could act as spatially-resolved temperature sensors at cryogenic temperatures without the need for any additional invasive on-chip electronics. (manuscript in preparation)
FOWLING explored optomechanics in the GHz regime, a regime that is often difficult to reach even with state-of-the-art fabrication processes due to the small length scales required to operate in this regime. This project also studied new, previously unexplored dynamical regimes, helping to increase the understanding of optomechanical systems. Much of this work is a potential step towards the realization of phononic circuitry. With the ever-increasing demand for computational power and energy, the possibility of phonons as information carriers could serve as an alternative, lower-energy method for computations.