We demonstrate wheel-shaped silicon optomechanical resonators for resonant operation in ambient air. The high finesse of optical whispering gallery modes (loaded optical Q factor above 500,000) allows for efficient transduction of the wheel resonator
s mechanical radial contour modes of frequency up to 1.35 GHz with high mechanical Q factor around 4,000 in air.
The optical binding forces between guided lightwaves in dielectric waveguides can be either repulsive or attractive. So far only attractive force has been observed. Here we experimentally demonstrate a bipolar optical force between coupled nanomechan
ical waveguides. Both attractive and repulsive optical forces are obtained. The sign of the force can be switched reversibly by tuning the relative phase of the interacting lightwaves. This tunable, bipolar interaction forms the foundation for the operation of a new class of light force devices and circuits.
