Optomechanics in Parity-Time Symmetric Photonic Structures
Abstract
The objective of this proposal is to investigate non-Hermitian optomechanical systems for the control of the interactions between optical (photons) and mechanical (phonons) modes, and to utilize the concepts of parity-time (PT) symmetry for enhancing optomechanical interactions to develop novel and high performance optomechanical devices. The proposed research aims to demonstrate, using PT concepts, low threshold phonon lasers, lossless manipulation of optomechanically-induced transparency (OMIT) for controlling light propagation, high performance cavity enhanced metrology, as well as new techniques to engineer nonlinearities and to overcome losses in optomechanical systems. Up to date, all experimental works have considered PT-symmetry within purely optical domain for controlling light propagation. The simplest optical system exhibiting PT-symmetry can be built by two coupled photonic structures (e.g., waveguides, resonators) with the first structure having passive loss and the second having optical gain compensating the loss of the first. The transition from the PT-symmetric to broken-PT symmetric regime and vice versa is controlled by tuning the coupling strength between the structures. The proposed research brings together the concepts of non-Hermitian optics and optomechanics to investigate radiation pressure of light and hence the interactions between optical and mechanical modes in PT-symmetric systems. The research will be executed using coupled whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators which have emerged as versatile and high performance platforms to study optomechanics, metrology, and PT-symmetry. This proposal addresses fundamental questions essential to advancements in optomechanics and the use of PT-symmetry for engineering interactions between optical and mechanical modes to control phonons by photons and photons by phonons. The ultimate goal is to precisely tailor non-Hermitian optomechanical systems, via coupling strength, loss-gain balance and loss engineering, to address the challenges in optomechanics and to construct novel devices outperforming the existing ones. The knowledge obtained during this research can be transferred into quantum sensor architectures, cooling optomechanical systems to ground state, building quantum optomechanical interfaces and on-chip processors utilizing photon-phonon interactions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1810043
Entities
People
- Şahin Kaya Özdemir
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Army