Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam optomechanical crystals

TL;DR

This paper reviews Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam optomechanical crystals, highlighting their design, fabrication, and improved optical and mechanical properties, with potential for sideband-resolved optomechanical applications.

Contribution

It introduces optimized fabrication techniques and new measurements demonstrating enhanced optical quality factors and high frequency-mechanical Q product in Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam optomechanical crystals.

Findings

Optical quality factors up to 4×10^5 achieved.

Mechanical Q factor product reaches 2.6×10^{13} Hz.

Device performance improves with surface treatment and temperature control.

Abstract

The development of Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam optomechanical crystals is reviewed. These structures consist of a 350 nm thick, 700 nm wide doubly-clamped Si$_3$N$_4$ nanobeam that is periodically patterned with an array of air holes to which a defect region is introduced. The periodic patterning simultaneously creates a photonic bandgap for 980 nm band photons and a phononic bandgap for 4 GHz phonons, with the defect region serving to co-localize optical and mechanical modes within their respective bandgaps. These optical and mechanical modes interact dispersively with a coupling rate $g_{0}/2\pi\approx$100 kHz, which describes the shift in cavity mode optical frequency due to the zero-point motion of the mechanical mode. Optical sidebands generated by interaction with the mechanical mode lie outside of the optical cavity linewidth, enabling possible use of this system in applications requiring sideband-resolved operation. Along with a review of the basic device design, fabrication, and measurement procedures, we present new results on improved optical quality factors (up to $4\times10^5$) through optimized lithography, measurements of devices after HF acid surface treatment, and temperature dependent measurements of mechanical damping between 6~K and 300~K. A frequency-mechanical quality factor product $\left(f{\times}Q_m\right)$ as high as $\approx2.6\times10^{13}$ Hz is measured.