Integrated waveguide-DBR microcavity opto-mechanical system.

Cavity opto-mechanics exploits optical forces acting on mechanical structures. Many opto-mechanics demonstrations either require extensive alignment of optical components for probing and measurement, which limits the number of opto-mechanical devices on-chip; or the approaches limit the ability to control the opto-mechanical parameters independently. In this work, we propose an opto-mechanical architecture incorporating a waveguide-DBR microcavity coupled to an in-plane micro-bridge resonator, enabling large-scale integration on-chip with the ability to individually tune the optical and mechanical designs. We experimentally characterize our device and demonstrate mechanical resonance damping and amplification, including the onset of coherent oscillations. The resulting collapse of the resonance linewidth implies a strong increase in effective mechanical quality-factor, which is of interest for high-resolution sensing.
(© 2011 Optical Society of America)