Making light jump

Photonic crystals on trampoline membranes for optomechanics experiments

Doctoral thesis (2019)

Authors

J.P. Pinto Moura QN/Groeblacher Lab - AS
Research Group
QN/Groeblacher Lab (AS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2019 J.P. Pinto Moura
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:f090d58f-558c-47ed-8c9c-3152dadbc4ae
Mechanical resonators Optical cavities Silicon nitride Optomechanics Photonic crystal slabs Optomechanical arrays
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Published Date

2019

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

QN/Quantum Nanoscience

Research Group

QN/Groeblacher Lab

Abstract

Cavity optomechanics studies the interaction between mechanical resonators and optical cavities through radiation pressure forces and aims to harness this interaction for applications in the areas of high precision metrology, tests of fundamental quantum mechanics, or quantum information processing. For the most ambitious of these applications it is necessary that the mechanical resonator has a sufficiently high mechanical quality factor such that it can undergo at least a few coherent oscillations before interacting with incoherent thermal phonons. Furthermore, the optomechanical coupling must be large enough to make the interaction between optics and mechanics probable and, ideally, deterministic.
This work pursues both goals using a thin membrane in the middle (MIM) of an optical cavity. This is a common configuration in cavity optomechanics but most experiments to date have lowmechanical quality factors and optomechanical couplings.