We propose and experimentally demonstrate a photonic crystal nanocavity with multiple resonances that can be tuned nearly independently. The design is composed of two orthogonal intersecting nanobeam cavities. Experimentally, we measure cavity quality factors of 6,600 and 1000 for resonances separated by 382 nm; we measure a maximum separation between resonances of 506 nm. These structures are promising for enhancing efficiency in nonlinear optical processes such as sum/difference frequency and stimulated Raman scattering.
We demonstrate photonic crystal nanobeam cavities that support both TE- and TM-polarized modes, each with a Quality factor greater than one million and a mode volume on the order of the cubic wavelength. We show that these orthogonally polarized modes have a tunable frequency separation and a high nonlinear spatial overlap. We expect these cavities to have a variety of applications in resonance-enhanced nonlinear optics.
We investigate the design, fabrication and experimental characterization of high Quality factor photonic crystal nanobeam cavities in silicon. Using a five-hole tapered 1D photonic crystal mirror and precise control of the cavity length, we designed cavities with theoretical Quality factors as high as 14 million. By detecting the cross-polarized resonantly scattered light from a normally incident laser beam, we measure a Quality factor of nearly 750,000. The effect of cavity size on mode frequency and Quality factor was simulated and then verified experimentally.
Photonic crystal nanocavities at visible wavelengths are fabricated in a high refractive index (n>3.2) gallium phosphide membrane. The cavities are probed via a cross-polarized reflectivity measurement and show resonances at wavelengths as low as 645 nm at room temperature, with quality factors between 500 and 1700 for modes with volumes 0.7(lambda/n)^3. These structures could be employed for submicron scale optoelectronic devices in the visible, and for coupling to novel emitters with resonances in the visible such as nitrogen vacancy centers, and bio- and organic molecules.
We examine the cavity resonance tuning of high-Q silicon photonic crystal heterostructures by localized laser-assisted thermal oxidation using a 532 nm continuous wave laser focused to a 2.5 mm radius spot-size. The total shift is consistent with the parabolic rate law. A tuning range of up to 8.7 nm is achieved with ~ 30 mW laser powers. Over this tuning range, the cavity Q decreases from 3.2times10^5 to 1.2times10^5. Numerical simulations model the temperature distributions in the silicon photonic crystal membrane and the cavity resonance shift from oxidation.
We investigate the nonlinear optical response of suspended 1D photonic crystal nanocavities fabricated on a silicon nitride chip. Strong thermo-optical nonlinearities are demonstrated for input powers as low as $2,mutext{W}$ and a self-sustained pulsing regime is shown to emerge with periodicity of several seconds. As the input power and laser wavelength are varied the temporal patterns change in period, duty cycle and shape. This dynamics is attributed to the multiple timescale competition between thermo-optical and thermo-optomechanical effects and closely resembles the relaxation oscillations states found in mathematical models of neuronal activity. We introduce a simplified model that reproduces all the experimental observations and allows us to explain them in terms of the properties of a 1D critical manifold which governs the slow evolution of the system.