Piezoelectric platforms for optomechanics

21 November 2018
Dr Krishna Balram, University Of Bristol

Nanoscale optomechanical systems, which rely on the strong interactions between co-localised optical and mechanical modes in nanoscale cavities, have been explored for a wide variety of applications ranging from sensing to signal transduction (Aspelmeyer et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 2014).

In this talk, I will discuss piezoelectric optomechanical platforms for efficient signal transduction between the radio frequency (RF) and optical domain. I will use GaAs as our model platform - Balram et al., Optica (2014), Nature Photonics (2016), Phys. Rev. Applied (2017) - and discuss some of the research opportunities and challenges in this field, especially as we move towards higher mechanical frequencies (>10GHz).