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In this paper, we study the influence of fabrication uncertainties on silicon-on-insulator optical nanosystems performances. The considered structure consists in near-field coupled twin nanobeam cavities. We have performed experiments on a given population of samples, and noticeable changes in light propagation and localization were observed. Thanks to an analytic coupled-mode-based method supported by three-dimensional numerical computations, we quantitatively explain these experimental observations. We have indeed noticed that a few percent variation of the system nominal dimensions is enough to significandy change the optical coupling conditions between the cavities. Particularly, we show that, under specific conditions, light can stay locked in one of the two cavities. This result highlights the issues of reproducibihty and reliabihty concerning future industrial application, hke nano-optical electromechanical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of the ultimately thin crystalline allotrope of silicon oxide, prepared on a ruthenium surface, is unveiled down to the atomic scale with chemical sensitivity, owing to high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and first principles calculations. An ordered oxygen lattice is imaged which coexists with the two-dimensional monolayer oxide. This coexistence signals a displacive transformation from an oxygen-reconstructed Ru(0001) to silicon oxide, along which laterally shifted domains form, each with equivalent and degenerate epitaxial relationships with the substrate. The unavoidable character of defects at the boundaries between these domains appeals for the development of alternative methods capable of producing single-crystalline two-dimensional oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]