Controlling photonic structures using optical forces

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how optical forces can be used to precisely control the optical properties of micro- and nano-scale resonant structures, enabling static tuning through mechanical deformation.

Contribution

The authors design a resonant structure that allows static control of optical responses using relatively weak optical forces, achieving significant resonance shifts.

Findings

Achieved up to 20 nm deformation of the resonator structure.

Shifted optical resonances by approximately 80 linewidths.

Demonstrated static control using attractive optical forces.

Abstract

The downscaling of optical systems to the micro and nano-scale results in very compliant systems with nanogram-scale masses, which renders them susceptible to optical forces. Here we show a specially designed resonant structure for enabling efficient static control of the optical response with relatively weak repulsive and attractive optical forces. Using attractive gradient optical forces we demonstrate a static mechanical deformation of up to 20 nanometers in the resonator structure. This deformation is enough to shift the optical resonances by roughly 80 optical linewidths.