Optomechanics with Silicon Nanowires by Harnessing Confined Electromagnetic Modes
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- 作者：Daniel Ramos ; Eduardo Gil-Santos ; Valerio Pini ; Jose M. Llorens ; Marta Fern谩ndez-Reg煤lez ; 脕lvaro San Paulo ; M. Calleja ; J. Tamayo
- 刊名：Nano Letters
- 出版年：2012
- 出版时间：February 8, 2012
- 年：2012
- 卷：12
- 期：2
- 页码：932-937
- 全文大小：360K
- 年卷期：v.12,no.2(February 8, 2012)
- ISSN：1530-6992
文摘
The optomechanical coupling that emerges in an optical cavity in which one of the mirrors is a mechanical resonator has allowed sub-Kelvin cooling with the prospect of observing quantum phenomena and self-sustained oscillators with very high spectral purity. Both applications clearly benefit from the use of the smallest possible mechanical resonator. Unfortunately, the optomechanical coupling largely decays when the size of the mechanical system is below the light wavelength. Here, we propose to exploit the optical resonances associated to the light confinement in subwavelength structures to circumvent this limitation, efficiently extending optomechanics to nanoscale objects. We demonstrate this mechanism with suspended silicon nanowires. We are able to optically cool the mechanical vibration of the nanowires from room temperature to 30鈥?0 K or to obtain regenerative mechanical oscillation with a frequency stability of about one part per million. The reported optomechanical phenomena can be exploited for developing cost-optimized mass sensors with sensitivities in the zeptogram range.