BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

[EN] Optical nonlinearities, such as thermo-optic mechanisms and free-carrier dispersion, are often considered unwelcome effects in silicon-based resonators and, more specifically, optomechanical cavities, since they affect, for instance, the relative detuning between an optical resonance and the excitation laser. Here, we exploit these nonlinearities and their intercoupling with the mechanical degrees of freedom of a silicon optomechanical nanobeam to unveil a rich set of fundamentally different complex dynamics. By smoothly changing the parameters of the excitation laser we demonstrate accurate control to activate two-and four-dimensional limit cycles, a period-doubling route and a six-dimensional chaos. In addition, by scanning the laser parameters in opposite senses we demonstrate bistability and hysteresis between two-and four-dimensional limit cycles, between different coherent mechanical states and between four-dimensional limit cycles and chaos. Our findings open new routes towards exploiting silicon-based optomechanical photonic crystals as a versatile building block to be used in neurocomputational networks and for chaos-based applications., This work was supported by the European Comission project PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-713450), the Spanish Severo Ochoa Excellence program and the MINECO project PHENTOM (FIS2015-70862-P). DNU, PDG and MFC gratefully acknowledge the support of a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392), a Beatriu de Pinos postdoctoral fellowship (BP-DGR 2015 (B) and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively. We would like to acknowledge Jose C. Sabina de Lis, J.M. Plata Suarez, A. Trifonova and C. Masoller for fruitful discussions.

[EN] Silicon on insulator photonics has offered a versatile platform for the recent development of integrated optomechanical circuits. However, there are some constraints such as the high cost of the wafers and limitation to a single physical device level. In the present work we investigate nanocrystalline silicon as an alternative material for optomechanical devices. In particular we demonstrate that optomechanical crystal cavities fabricated of nanocrystalline silicon have optical and mechanical properties enabling non-linear dynamical behaviour and effects such as thermo-optic/free-carrier-dispersion self-pulsing, phonon lasing and chaos, all at low input laser power and with typical frequencies as high as 0.3 GHz. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement, European Commission project PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-713450), MINECO Severo Ochoa Excellence program (SEV-2013-0295), MINECO (FIS2015-70862-P, RYC-2014-15392) and CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya.

[ES] La optomecánica de cavidades se ocupa de la interacción entre la luz y la materia a través del efecto de presión de radiación cuando las ondas ópticas y mecánicas implicadas están confinadas en una cavidad. En estos sistemas optomecánicos, la interacción entre fotones y fonones da lugar a multitud de fenómenos en función de las condiciones en las que se excita el sistema. En particular, se pueden obtener dos regímenes distintos en los que se puede, o bien absorber fonones (denominado como enfriamiento de la cavidad), o bien éstos se pueden amplificar (régimen conocido como calentamiento de la cavidad). El primer régimen puede usarse, por ejemplo, para reducir la ocupación térmica del sistema y se usa comúnmente para aplicaciones relativas al procesado de información cuántica. Sin embargo, la amplificación de fonones, que puede ser desarrollada a temperatura ambiente, ha permitido conseguir alcanzar incluso las condiciones necesarias para obtener láseres de fonones, lo cual permite poder usar esta característica como elemento de referencia en aplicaciones relativas al procesado de señales de radiofrecuencia (RF).

En esta tesis se aborda el confinamiento simultáneo y la interacción de fotones y fonones en estructuras periódicas y en guías no suspendidas desarrolladas en sistemas CMOS compatibles basados en tecnología de silicio. A través del estudio experimental de estas estructuras periódicas, hemos demostrado que las cavidades optomecánicas pueden actuar como elementos clave en el dominio de la fotónica de microondas, donde todo el procesado de la información puede ser realizado en el dominio óptico a través de la manipulación de fonones en este sistema. En particular, mostramos que un solo oscilador optomecánico puede actuar tanto como un oscilador local y un mezclador de RF, y éste puede operar como un conversor de frecuencias de señales de cadenas de datos reales. Para mejorar esta funcionalidad, también se demuestra que es posible obtener tanto peines de frecuencias ópticos así como múltiples modos mecánicos confinados, aumentando así su rendimiento. Por otro lado, con el objetivo de poder solventar las posibles limitaciones de estos sistemas, en esta tesis también se exploran diferentes configuraciones que permiten la interacción acusto-óptica simultánea en la misma estructura. Específicamente, se analiza la interacción optomecánica en discos de alto índice que soportan estados cuasi-ligados en el continuo así como una propuesta de guías no suspendidas que soportan altas ganancias de Brillouin. Este último estudio debería permitir el desarrollo de sistemas optomecánicos no suspendidos donde el problema de la pérdida de fonones hacia el sustrato se resuelva, hecho que permitiría enormemente simplificar la fabricación de estos sistemas optomecánicos en chips de silicio así como su uso en múltiples aplicaciones., [CA] L'optomecànica de cavitats s'ocupa de la interacció entre la llum i la matèria a través de l'efecte de pressió de radiació quan les ones òptiques i mecàniques implicades estan confinades en una cavitat. En aquests sistemes optomecànics, la interacció entre fotons i fonons dona lloc a multitud de fenòmens en funció de les condicions de les condicions en les quals s'excita el sistema. En particular, es poden obtindre dos règims diferents en els quals es pot, o bé, absorbir fonons (denominat com a refredament de la cavitat), o bé, es poden amplificar (règim conegut com a calfament de la cavitat). El primer règim pot usar-se, per exemple, per a reduir l'ocupació tèrmica del sistema i s'usa comunament per a aplicacions relatives al processament d'informació quàntica. No obstant això, l'amplificació de fonons, que pot ser desenvolupada a temperatura ambient, ha permés aconseguir fins i tot les condicions necessàries per a obtindre làsers de fonons, la qual cosa permet poder usar aquesta característica com a element de referència en aplicacions relatives al processament de senyals de radiofreqüència (RF). En aquesta tesi s'aborda el confinament simultani i la interacció de fotons i fonons en estructures periòdiques i en guies no suspeses en sistemes CMOS compatibles basats en tecnologia de silici. A través de l'estudi experimental d'aquestes estructures periòdiques, hem demostrat que les cavitats optomecàniques poden actuar com a elements clau en el domini de la fotònica de microones, on tot el processament de la informació pot ser realitzat en el domini òptic a través de la manipulació de fonons en aquest sistema. En particular, vam mostrar que només un oscil·lador optomecànic pot actuar tant com un oscil·lador local i un mesclador de RF, i aquest pot operar com un convertidor de freqüències de senyals de cadenes de dades reals. Per a millorar aquesta funcionalitat, també es demostra que és possible obtindre tant tren de freqüències òptics així com múltiples modes mecànics confinats, augmentant així el seu rendiment. D'altra banda, amb l'objectiu de poder solucionar les possibles limitacions d'aquests sistemes, en aquesta tesi també s'exploren diferents configuracions que permeten la interacció acusto-òptica simultània en la mateixa estructura. Específicament, s'analitza la interacció optomecànica en discos d'alt índex que suporten estats quasi-lligats en el continu així com una proposta de guies no suspeses que suporten altes ganancies de Brillouin. Aquest últim estudi hauria de permetre el desenvolupament de sistemes optomecànics no suspesos on el problema de la pèrdua de fonons cap al substrat es resolga, fet que permetria enormement simplificar la fabricació d'aquests sistema optomecànics en xips de silici així com el seu ús en diverses aplicacions., [EN] Cavity optomechanics deals with the interaction of light and matter through the radiation pressure effect, when the involved optical and mechanical waves are confined in a cavity. In optomechanical systems, photon and phonon interaction give rise to a plethora of phenomena as a function of the driving conditions of the system. Relative to that, two distinctive regimes can be obtained which enable either the absorption of phonons (cavity cooling) or their amplification (cavity heating). The first regime can be used to reduce the thermal occupancy of the system and it is commonly used for quantum processing information applications. However, the amplification of phonons, which can be performed at room temperature, has enabled to even reach phonon lasing conditions, a feature that could be used as a reference element for RF processing applications.

In this thesis, we address the simultaneous confinement and interaction of photons and phonons in periodic structures and unreleased waveguides on CMOS-compatible silicon-based technology. Throughout the experimental study of those periodic structures, we demonstrate that optomechanical cavities can perform as key blocks in the microwave photonics domain where all the information processing can be performed in the optical domain through phonon manipulation. In particular, we show that a single optomechanical oscillator can perform as both a local oscillator and an RF mixer, and it can operate as a frequency-converted of real data stream signals. To improve its performance, it is also demonstrated that optical frequency combs can be obtained by means of this system and multiple mechanical mode confinement can also be achieved, thus improving the functionality of the system. On the other hand, in order to fulfill the possible limitations of those systems, we explore different configurations enabling the simultaneous acousto-optic interaction together into the same structure. Especially, optomechanical interaction in high-index disks supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum is addressed, as well as a proposal of unreleased waveguides supporting strong Brillouin gains is also reported. The last one should lead to unreleased optomechanical interacting systems where the issue of phonon leakage into the substrate is solved, which could enormously simplify the fabrication of optomechanical systems in silicon chips as well as their practical use in multiple applications., This work has been carried out under the framework of the H2020 FET-Open EU project PHENOMEN. This Thesis was also supported by the Programa de Ayudas de Investigación y Desarrollo (PAID-01-16) de la Universitat Politècnica de València

[EN] In this work, we study the dispersive coupling between optical quasi-bound states in the continuum at telecom wavelengths and GHz-mechanical modes in high-index wavelength-sized disks. We show that such cavities can display values of the optomechanical coupling rate on par with optomechanical crystal cavities (g(0)/2 pi similar or equal to 800 kHz). Interestingly, optomechanical coupling of optical resonances with mechanical modes at frequencies well above 10 GHz seems attainable. We also show that mechanical leakage in the substrate can be extremely reduced by placing the disk over a thin silica pedestal. Our results suggest a new route for ultra-compact optomechanical cavities that can potentially be arranged in massive arrays forming optomechanical metasurfaces for application in signal processing or sensing., Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung; Generalitat
Valenciana (BEST/2020/178, IDIFEDER/2018/033,
PPC/2018/002, PROMETEO/2019/123); Ministerio de
Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (PGC2018- 094490-BC22); H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (713450,
829067).

[EN] Dynamical radiation pressure effects in cavity optomechanical systems give rise to self-sustained oscillations or 'phonon lasing' behavior, producing stable oscillators up to GHz frequencies in nanoscale devices. Like in photonic lasers, phonon lasing normally occurs in a single mechanical mode. We show here that mode-locked, multimode phonon lasing can be established in a multimode optomechanical system through Floquet dynamics induced by a temporally modulated laser drive. We demonstrate this concept in a suitably engineered silicon photonic nanocavity coupled to multiple GHz-frequency mechanical modes. We find that the long-term frequency stability is significantly improved in the multimode lasing state as a result of the mode locking. These results provide a path toward highly stable ultracompact oscillators, pulsed phonon lasing, coherent waveform synthesis, and emergent many-mode phenomena in oscillator arrays., The authors thank Javier del Pino for useful discussions. This work is supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreements No. 732894 (FET Proactive HOT), 713450 (FET-Open PHENOMEN), and 945915 (SIOMO), the Spanish State Research Agency (PGC2018-094490-BC21) and by the Juilan Schwinger Foundation project grant No. JSF-16-03-0000 (TOM). It is part of the research program of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). A. M. acknowledges funding from Generalitat Valenciana under Grants No. PROMETEO/2019/123, BEST/2020/178, and IDIFEDER/2018/033. E. V. acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant No. 759644-TOPP).

[EN] Spontaneous locking of the phase of a coherent phonon source to an external reference is demonstrated in a deeply sideband-unresolved optomechanical system. The high-amplitude mechanical oscillations are driven by the anharmonic modulation of the radiation pressure force that result from an absorption-mediated free-carrier/temperature limit cycle, i.e., self-pulsing. Synchronization is observed when the pump laser driving the mechanical oscillator to a self-sustained state is modulated by a radiofrequency tone. We employ a pump-probe phonon detection scheme based on an independent optical cavity to observe only the mechanical oscillator dynamics. The lock range of the oscillation frequency, i.e., the Arnold tongue, is experimentally determined over a range of external reference strengths, evidencing the possibility to tune the oscillator frequency for a range up to 350 kHz. The stability of the coherent phonon source is evaluated via its phase noise, with a maximum achieved suppression of 44 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset for a 100 MHz mechanical resonator. Introducing a weak modulation in the excitation laser reveals as a further knob to trigger, control and stabilize the dynamical solutions of self-pulsing based optomechanical oscillators, thus enhancing their potential as acoustic wave sources in a single-layer silicon platform., This research was funded by EU FET Open project PHENOMEN (GA: 713450). ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. G. A. and C. M. S.-T. acknowledge the support from the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00). D. N. U., G. A. and M. F. C. gratefully acknowledge the support of a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392), a BIST studentship, and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively. D. N. U. acknowledges the funding through the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PGC2018-094490-B-C22).

[EN] Strong acousto-optic interaction in high-index waveguides and cavities generally requires the releasing of the high-index core to avoid mechanical leakage into the underlying low-index substrate. This complicates fabrication, limits thermalization, reduces the mechanical robustness, and hinders large-area optomechanical devices on a single chip. Here, we overcome this limitation by employing vertical photonic-phononic engineering to drastically reduce mechanical leakage into the cladding by adding a pedestal with specific properties between the core and the cladding. We apply this concept to a silicon-based platform, due to the remarkable properties of silicon to enhance optomechanical interactions and the technological relevance of silicon devices in multiple applications. Specifically, the insertion of a thick silicon nitride layer between the silicon guiding core and the silica substrate contributes to reducing gigahertz-frequency phonon leakage while enabling large values of the Brillouin gain in an unreleased platform. We numerically obtain values of the Brillouin gain around
300
(
W m
)
¿
1
for different configurations, which could be further increased by operation at cryogenic temperatures. These values should enable Brillouin-related phenomena in centimeter-scale waveguides or in more compact ring resonators. Our findings could pave the way toward large-area unreleased-cavity and waveguide optomechanics on silicon and other high-index photonic technologies., This work was supported by the European Commission (PHENOMEN Grant No. H2020-EU-713450), the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Grant No. PAID-01-169), the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Grants No. PGC2018-094490-B and No. PRX18/00126), and the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant No. PROMETEO/2019/123)

[EN] Optomechanical (OM) cavities enable coupling of near-infrared light and GHz-frequency acoustic waves in wavelength-scale volumes. When driven in the phonon lasing regime, an OM cavity can perform simultaneously as a nonlinear mixer and a local oscillator¿at integer multiples of the mechanical resonance frequency¿in the optical domain. In this work, this property is used to demonstrate all-optical frequency down- and up-conversion of MHz-bandwidth orthogonal frequency division multiplexed signals compliant with the IEEE 802.16e WiMAX wireless standard at microwave frequencies. To this end, a silicon OM crystal cavity (OMCC), supporting a breathing-like mechanical resonance at fm ¿3.9 GHz and having a foot-print ¿ 10 um^2, which yields frequency conversion efficiencies better than ¿17 dB in both down- and up-conversion processes at mW-scale driving power, is employed. This work paves the way toward the application of OMCCs in low-power all-photonic processing of digitally modulated microwave signals in miniaturized silicon photonics chips., The authors acknowledge funding from the H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies program (projects PHENOMEN 713450 and SIOMO 945915); the Spanish State Research Agency (PGC2018-094490-BC21, PID2019-106163RJ-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 MULTICORE+ and MCIU/AEI/FEDER UE RTI2018-101296-B-I00 MULTI-BEAM5G); Generalitat Valenciana (PPC/2021/042, BEST/2020/178, PROMETEO/2019/123 and IDIFEDER/2018/033); and the UPV Programa de Ayudas de Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID-01-16).

[EN] High-index dielectric disks with subwavelength
dimensions seem relatively simple electromagnetic structures.
However, they can give rise to exotic phenomena in
nanophotonics. Here we show recent findings that show that
high-index disks can be used to manipulate light in
subwavelength dimensions as a result of Mie and Fabry-Perot
resonances. We also propose that such disks can be used for new
applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) using silicon
technology., A. M. acknowledges funding from Generalitat Valenciana
(BEST/2020/178, IDIFEDER/2018/033, PPC/2018/002,
PROMETEO/2019/123, IDIFEDER/2020/041); Ministerio de
Ciencia e Innovación (PGC2018-094490-B-C21, ICTS-2017-
28-UPV-9); European Commission, H2020 Future and
Emerging Technologies (713450, 829067).

[EN] Nanoelectro-opto-mechanical systems enable the synergistic coexistence of electrical, mechanical, and optical signals on a chip to realize new functions. Most of the technology platforms proposed for the fabrication of these systems so far are not fully compatible with the mainstream CMOS technology, thus, hindering the mass-scale utilization. We have developed a CMOS technology platform for nanoelectro-optomechanical systems that includes piezoelectric interdigitated transducers for electronic driving of mechanical signals and nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams for an enhanced optomechanical interaction. Room-temperature operation of devices at 2 GHz and with peak sensitivity down to 2.6 cavity phonons is demonstrated. Our proof-of-principle technology platform can be integrated and interfaced with silicon photonics, electronics, and MEMS devices and may enable multiple functions for coherent signal processing in the classical and quantum domains., This research has received funding from the European Union H2020 FET Open Project PHENOMEN (No. 713450). TheICN2 authors acknowledge support by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (Grant No. SEV-20190706), the MCIN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-100), and by the CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya. G.A. was supported by a BIST and MFC by a S. Ochoa Project Ph.D. studentships. G. M. acknowledges support from the EU ERC project LEIT (GA Nr. 885689). A.M. acknowledges support from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/(Projects PGC2018-094490-BC21 and ICTS-2017-28-UPV-9), from Generalitat Valenciana (BEST/2020/178, PROMETEO/2019/123, and IDIFEDER/2021/061) and from "Unio ' n Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR".

[EN] Cavity optomechanics has recently emerged as a new paradigm enabling the manipulation of mechanical motion via optical fields tightly confined in deformable cavities. When driving an optomechanical (OM) crystal cavity with a laser blue-detuned with respect to the optical resonance, the mechanical motion is amplified, ultimately resulting in phonon lasing at MHz and even GHz frequencies. In this work, we show that a silicon OM crystal cavity performs as an OM microwave oscillator when pumped above the threshold for self-sustained OM oscillations. To this end, we use an OM cavity designed to have a breathing-like mechanical mode at 3.897 GHz in a full phononic bandgap. Our measurements show that the first harmonic of the detected signal displays a phase noise of ¿¿100 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz. Stronger blue-detuned driving leads eventually to the formation of an OM frequency comb, whose lines are spaced by the mechanical frequency. We also measure the phase noise for higher-order harmonics and show that, unlike in Brillouin oscillators, the noise is increased as corresponding to classical harmonic mixing. Finally, we present real-time measurements of the comb waveform and show that it can be fitted to a theoretical model recently presented. Our results suggest that silicon OM cavities could be relevant processing elements in microwave photonics and optical RF processing, in particular in disciplines requiring low weight, compactness and fiber interconnection., This work was supported by the European Commission (PHENOMEN H2020-EU-713450); Programa de Ayudas de Investigacion y Desarrolo (PAID-01-16) de la Universitat Politecnica de Valencia; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (PGC2018-094490-B, PRX18/00126) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2019/123, PPC/2018/002, IDIFEDER/2018/033).

[EN] Nanocrystalline materials exhibit properties that can differ substantially from those of their single crystal counterparts. As such, they provide ways to enhance and optimize their functionality for devices and applications. Here, we report on the optical, mechanical and thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon probed by means of optomechanical nanobeams to extract information of the dynamics of optical absorption, mechanical losses, heat generation and dissipation. The optomechanical nanobeams are fabricated using nanocrystalline films prepared by annealing amorphous silicon layers at different temperatures. The resulting crystallite sizes and the stress in the films can be controlled by the annealing temperature and time and, consequently, the properties of the films can be tuned relatively freely, as demonstrated here by means of electron microscopy and Raman scattering. We show that the nanocrystallite size and the volume fraction of the grain boundaries play a key role in the dissipation rates through nonlinear optical and thermal processes. Promising optical (13,000) and mechanical (1700) quality factors were found in the optomechanical cavity realized in the nanocrystalline Si resulting from annealing at 950 degrees C. The enhanced absorption and recombination rates via the intragap states and the reduced thermal conductivity boost the potential to exploit these nonlinear effects in applications including Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), phonon lasing and chaos-based devices., The following support is gratefully acknowledged: the European Commission project PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-FET Open GA no. 713450), the Spanish Severo Ochoa Excellence program (SEV-2017-0706), CMST and ECA: the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00), DNU and AM: the Spanish MICINN project PGC2018-094490-B-C22. DNU holds a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392); MFC and GA hold a S. Ochoa and a M. S. Curie COFUND BIST postgraduate studentship, respectively.

[EN] The realization of photonic microwave oscillators using optomechanical cavities has recently become a reality. By pumping the cavity with a blue-detuned laser, the so-called phonon lasing regime - in which a mechanical resonance is amplified beyond losses - can be reached and the input signal gets modulated by highly-coherent tones at integer multiples of the mechanical resonance. Implementing optomechanical cavities on released films with high index of refraction can lead to optical modes at telecom wavelengths and mechanical resonances in the GHz scale, resulting in highly-stable signals in the microwave domain upon photodetection. Owing to the extreme compactness of such cavities, application in satellite communications (SATCOM) seems highly appropriate, but no experiments have been reported so far. In this paper, an optomechanical microwave oscillator (OMO) built on a micron-scale silicon optomechanical crystal cavity is characterized and tested in a real SATCOM testbed. Using a blue-detuned laser, the OMO is driven into a phonon lasing state where multiple harmonics are generated, reaching tones up to 20 GHz. Under this regime, its practical applicability, remarkably addressing its performance as a photonic local oscillator, has been validated. The results, in addition with the advantages of extreme compactness and silicon-technology compatibility, make OMOs very promising candidates to build ultra-low weight photonics-based microwave oscillators for SATCOM applications., This work was supported in part by the H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies program under Grant PHENOMEN 713450, SIOMO 945915, and OPTIMA 730149, in part by the Spanish State Research Agency underGrants PGC2018-094490-BC21 and ICTS-2017-28-UPV-9, and in part by Generalitat Valenciana under Grants BEST/2020/178, PROMETEO/2019/123, IDIFEDER/2020/041, and IDIFEDER/2021/061.

[EN] Controlling thermal energy transfer at the nanoscale and thermal properties has become critically important in many applications since it often
limits device performance. In this study, the effects on thermal conductivity arising from the nanoscale structure of free-standing nanocrystalline silicon films and the increasing surface-to-volume ratio when
fabricated into suspended optomechanical nanobeams are studied.
Thermal transport and elucidate the relative impact of different grain size
distributions and geometrical dimensions on thermal conductivity are
characterized. A micro time-domain thermoreflectance method to study
free-standing nanocrystalline silicon films and find a drastic reduction
in the thermal conductivity, down to values below 10 W m¿1 K¿1 is used,
with a stronger decrease for smaller grains. In optomechanical nanostructures, this effect is smaller than in membranes due to the competition
of surface scattering in decreasing thermal conductivity. Finally, a novel
versatile contactless characterization technique that can be adapted to any
structure supporting a thermally shifted optical resonance is introduced.
The thermal conductivity data agrees quantitatively with the thermoreflectance measurements. This study opens the way to a more generalized
thermal characterization of optomechanical cavities and to create hotspots with engineered shapes at the desired position in the structures as a
means to study thermal transport in coupled photon-phonon structures., This work was supported by the European Commission FET Open project PHENOMEN (G.A. Nr. 713450). ICN2 was supported by the S. Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya. ICN2 authors acknowledge the support from the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00). D.N.U. and M.F.C. acknowledge the support of a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392) and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively. E.C.A. acknowledges financial support from the EU FET Open Project NANOPOLY. (GA 829061). A.M. acknowledges support from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (grant PGC2018-094490-B, PRX18/00126) and Generalitat Valenciana (grants PROMETEO/2019/123, and IDIFEDER/2018/033).

[EN] Optomechanical interaction in optical dielectric cavities can be used to generate high-purity microwave tones, giving
rise to optomechanical microwave oscillators. Here, we introduce the main properties of these devices, which can
be implemented in photonic integrated chips, and envisage its deployment in the mid-term in microwave photonics
applications., This work was supported by the European Commission (PHENOMEN H2020-EU-713450; SIOMO H2020-EU-945915);
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (PGC2018-094490-B, PRX18/00126) and Generalitat Valenciana (BEST/
2020/178, PROMETEO/2019/123, PPC/2018/002, IDIFEDER/
2018/033).

All-optical modulation of light relies on exploiting intrinsic material nonlinearities [V. R. Almeida et al., Nature 431, 1081 (2004)]. However, this optical control is rather challenging due to the weak dependence of the refractive index and absorption coefficients on the concentration of free carriers in standard semiconductors [R. A. Soref and B. R. Bennett, Proc. SPIE 704, 32 (1987)]. To overcome this limitation, resonant structures with high spatial and spectral confinement are carefully designed to enhance the stored electromagnetic energy, thereby requiring lower excitation power to achieve significant nonlinear effects [K. Nozaki et al., Nat. Photonics 4, 477 (2010)]. Small mode-volume and high-quality (Q)-factor cavities also offer an efficient coherent control of the light field and the targeted optical properties. Here, we report on optical resonances reaching Q∼105 induced by disorder on photonic/phononic-crystal waveguides. At relatively low excitation powers (below 1mW), these cavities exhibit nonlinear effects leading to periodic (up to ∼35 MHz) oscillations of their resonant wavelength. Our system represents a test bed to study the interplay between structural complexity and material nonlinearities and their impact on localization phenomena and introduces a different functionality to the toolset of disordered photonics., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) via the Severo Ochoa Program (Grant No. SEV-2013-0295) and the project PHENTOM (Fis 2015-70862-P), as well as by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, and by
the European Commission in the form of the H2020 FET Open Project PHENOMEN (Grant No. 713450). G.A. is supported by a BIST Ph.D. Fellowship, and P.D.G. and D.N.-U. gratefully acknowledge support through the Ramon y Cajal fellowships No. RYC-2015-18124 and No. RYC-2014-15392, respectively, Peer reviewed

Silicon on insulator photonics has offered a versatile platform for the recent development of integrated optomechanical circuits. However, there are some constraints such as the high cost of the wafers and limitation to a single physical device level. In the present work we investigate nanocrystalline silicon as an alternative material for optomechanical devices. In particular, we demonstrate that optomechanical crystal cavities fabricated of nanocrystalline silicon have optical and mechanical properties enabling non-linear dynamical behaviour and effects such as thermo-optic/free-carrier-dispersion self-pulsing, phonon lasing and chaos, all at low input laser power and with typical frequencies as high as 0.3 GHz., European Commission project PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-713450), MINECO Severo Ochoa
Excellence program (SEV-2013-0295), MINECO (FIS2015-70862-P, RYC-2014-15392) and
CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya., Peer reviewed

Optomechanical (OM) structures are well suited to study photon-phonon interactions, and they also turn out to be potential building blocks for phononic circuits and quantum computing. In phononic circuits, in which information is carried and processed by phonons, OM structures could be used as interfaces to photons and electrons thanks to their excellent coupling efficiency. Among the components required for phononic circuits, such structures could be used to create coherent phonon sources and detectors, but more complex functions remain challenging. Here, we propose and demonstrate a way to modulate the coherent phonon emission from OM crystals by a photothermal effect induced by an external laser, effectively creating a phonon switch working at ambient conditions of pressure and temperature and the working speed of which is only limited by the build-up time of the mechanical motion of the OM structure. We additionally demonstrate two other modulation schemes: modulation of harmonics in which the mechanical mode remains active but different harmonics of the optical force are used, and modulation to and from a chaotic regime. Furthermore, due to the local nature of the photothermal effect used here, we expect this method to allow us to selectively modulate the emission of any single cavity on a chip without affecting its surroundings in the absence of mechanical coupling between the structures, which is an important step toward freely controllable networks of OM phonon emitters., This work was supported by the European Comission FET Open project PHENOMEN (No. H2020-EU-713450) and the Spanish MINECO project PHENTOM (No. FIS2015-70862-P). The ICN2 is funded by the CERCA programme, the Generalitat de Catalunya, and supported by the Severo Ochoa programme of the Spanish MINECO Grant No. SEV-2013-0295. D.N.U. and M.F.C. gratefully acknowledge the support of a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (No. RYC-2014-15392) and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively., Peer reviewed

Fundamental observations in physics ranging from gravitational wave detection to laser cooling of a nanomechanical oscillator into its quantum ground state rely on the interaction between the optical and the mechanical degrees of freedom. A key parameter to engineer this interaction is the spatial overlap between the two fields, optimized in carefully designed resonators on a case-by-case basis. Disorder is an alternative strategy to confine light and sound at the nanoscale. However, it lacks an a priori mechanism guaranteeing a high degree of colocalization due to the inherently complex nature of the underlying interference processes. Here, we propose a way to address this challenge by using GaAs/AlAs vertical distributed Bragg reflectors with embedded geometrical disorder. Because of a remarkable coincidence in the physical parameters governing light and motion propagation in these two materials, the equations for both longitudinal acoustic waves and normal-incidence light become practically equivalent for excitations of the same wavelength. This guarantees spatial overlap between the electromagnetic and displacement fields of specific photon-phonon pairs, leading to strong light-matter interaction. In particular, a statistical enhancement in the vacuum optomechanical coupling rate,
go, is found, making this system a promising candidate to explore Anderson localization of high frequency (∼20 GHz) phonons enabled by cavity optomechanics. The colocalization effect shown here unlocks the access to unexplored localization phenomena and the engineering of light-matter interactions mediated by Anderson-localized states., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MICINN) via the Severo Ochoa Program (Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) and the project PHENTOM (Grant No. Fis 2015-70862-P) as well as by the Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA),
and by the European Commission in the form of the H2020 FET open project PHENOMEN (Grant No. 713450). G. A. is supported by a Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology PhD fellowship, N. D. L. K. by the ERC Starting Grant Nanophennec (Grant No. 715939) and
P. D. G. by a Ramon y Cajal fellowship (Grant No. RyC-2015-18124)., Peer reviewed

Inspired by concepts developed for fermionic systems in the framework of condensed matter physics, topology and topological states are recently being explored also in bosonic systems. Recently, some of these concepts have been successfully applied to acoustic phonons in nanoscale multilayered systems. The reported demonstration of confined topological phononic modes was based on Raman scattering spectroscopy [M. Esmann et al., Phys. Rev. B 97, 155422 (2018)], yet the resolution did not suffice to determine lifetimes and to identify other acoustic modes in the system. Here, we use time-resolved pump-probe measurements using an asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS) technique to overcome these resolution limitations. By means of one-dimensional GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) used as building blocks, we engineer high frequency (∼200 GHz) topological acoustic interface states. We are able to clearly distinguish confined topological states from stationary band edge modes. The generation/detection scheme reflects the symmetry of the modes directly through the selection rules, evidencing the topological nature of the measured confined state. These experiments enable a new tool in the study of the more complex topology-driven phonon dynamics such as phonon nonlinearities and optomechanical systems with simultaneous confinement of light and sound., This work was supported by the European Commission in the form of the H2020 FET Proactive project TOCHA (No. 824140). The authors acknowledge funding by the European Research Council Starting Grant No. 715939, Nanophennec; by the French RENATECH network, and through a public grant overseen by the ANR as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program (Labex NanoSaclay Grant No. ANR-10-LABX-0035). ICN2 was supported by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) and the project PHENTOM (Fis 2015-70862-P), as well as by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, and by the European Commission in the form of the H2020 FET Open project PHENOMEN (No. 713450 to G.A.). G.A. was supported by a BIST Ph.D. fellowship and P.D.G. by a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship No. RyC-2015-18124. M.E. acknowledges funding from the German Research Foundation DFG (Forschungsstipendium ES 560/1-1)., Peer reviewed

The synchronization of coupled oscillators is a phenomenon found throughout nature. Mechanical oscillators are paradigmatic examples, but synchronizing their nanoscaled versions is challenging. We report synchronization of the mechanical dynamics of a pair of optomechanical crystal cavities that, in contrast to previous works performed in similar objects, are intercoupled with a mechanical link and support independent optical modes. In this regime they oscillate in antiphase, which is in agreement with the predictions of our numerical model that considers reactive coupling. We also show how to temporarily disable synchronization of the coupled system by actuating one of the cavities with a heating laser, so that both cavities oscillate independently. Our results can be upscaled to more than two cavities and pave the way towards realizing integrated networks of synchronized mechanical oscillators., This work was supported by the European Commission project PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-713450), the Spanish Severo Ochoa Excellence program, and the MINECO project PHENTOM (FIS2015-70862-P). D. N. U., G. A., and M. F. C. gratefully acknowledge the support of a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392), a BIST studentship, and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively., Peer reviewed

A strong trend for quantum-based technologies and applications follows the avenue of combining different platforms to exploit their complementary technological and functional advantages. Micro and nanomechanical devices are particularly suitable for hybrid integration due to the ease of fabrication at multiscales and their pervasive coupling with electrons and photons. Here, we report on a nanomechanical technological platform where a silicon chip is combined with an aluminum nitride layer. Exploiting the AlN piezoelectricity, surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are injected in the Si layer where the material has been locally patterned and etched to form a suspended nanostring. Characterizing the nanostring vertical displacement induced by the SAW, we find an external excitation peak efficiency in excess of 500 pm/V at 1-GHz mechanical frequency. Exploiting the long-term expertise in silicon photonic and electronic devices as well as the SAW robustness and versatility, our technological platform represents a candidate for hybrid quantum systems., This work is supported by the FET-Open PHENOMEN project (GA 713450). D.N.U. gratefully acknowledges funding from a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392)., Peer reviewed

Nanocrystalline materials exhibit properties that can differ substantially from those of their single crystal counterparts. As such, they provide ways to enhance and optimize their functionality for devices and applications. Here, we report on the optical, mechanical and thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon probed by means of optomechanical nanobeams to extract information of the dynamics of optical absorption, mechanical losses, heat generation and dissipation. The optomechanical nanobeams are fabricated using nanocrystalline films prepared by annealing amorphous silicon layers at different temperatures. The resulting crystallite sizes and the stress in the films can be controlled by the annealing temperature and time and, consequently, the properties of the films can be tuned relatively freely, as demonstrated here by means of electron microscopy and Raman scattering. We show that the nanocrystallite size and the volume fraction of the grain boundaries play a key role in the dissipation rates through nonlinear optical and thermal processes. Promising optical (13,000) and mechanical (1700) quality factors were found in the optomechanical cavity realized in the nanocrystalline Si resulting from annealing at 950°C. The enhanced absorption and recombination rates via the intragap states and the reduced thermal conductivity boost the potential to exploit these nonlinear effects in applications including Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), phonon lasing and chaos-based devices., The following support is gratefully acknowledged: the European Commission project
PHENOMEN (H2020-EU-FET Open GA no. 713450), the Spanish Severo Ochoa Excellence program (SEV-2017-0706), CMST and ECA: the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00), DNU and AM: the Spanish MICINN project PGC2018-094490-B-C22. DNU holds a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392); MFC and GA hold a S. Ochoa and a M. S. Curie COFUND BIST postgraduate studentship, respectively., Peer reviewed

We investigate self-organized synchronization in a blue-detuned optomechanical cavity that is mechanically coupled to an undriven mechanical resonator. By controlling the strength of the driving field, we engineer a mechanical gain that balances the losses of the undriven resonator. This gain-loss balance corresponds to the threshold where both coupled mechanical resonators enter simultaneously into self-sustained limit cycle oscillations regime. This leads to rich sets of collective dynamics such as in-phase and out-of-phase synchronizations, depending on the mechanical coupling rate, the frequency mismatch between the resonators, and the external driving strength through the mechanical gain and the optical spring effect. Moreover, we show that the introduction of a quadratic coupling, which results from a quadratically coupling of the optical cavity mode to the mechanical displacement, enhances the in-phase synchronization. This work shows how phonon transfer can optomechanically induce synchronization in a coupled mechanical resonator array and opens up new avenues for phonon processing and novel memories concepts., This work was supported by the European Commission FET OPEN H2020 project PHENOMEN-Grant Agreement No. 713450. P.D. acknowledges the funding from the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 754510, and the support from Severo Ochoa Program (MINECO, Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) and funding from the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya., Peer reviewed

The widespread use of nanostructures and nanomaterials has opened up a whole new realm of challenges in thermal management, but also leads to possibilities for energy conversion, storage, and generation, in addition to numerous other technological applications. At the microscale and below, standard thermal measurement techniques reach their limits, and several novel methods have been developed to overcome these limitations. Among the most recent, contactless photothermal methods have been widely used and have proved their advantages in terms of versatility, temporal and spatial resolution, and even sensitivity in some situations. Among them, thermoreflectance and Raman thermometry have been used to measure the thermal properties from bulk materials to thin films, multilayers, suspended structures, and nanomaterials. This Tutorial presents the principles of these two techniques and some of their most common implementations. It expands to more advanced systems for spatial mapping and for probing of non-Fourier thermal transport. Finally, this paper concludes with discussing the limitations and perspectives of these techniques and future directions in nanoscale thermometry.
I. INTRODUCTION, ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. ICN2 authors acknowledge support from the Spanish MICINN Project SIP (No. PGC2018-101743-B-I00) and the H2020 European FET Open project PHENOMEN (No. GA 713450). E.C.-A. acknowledges financial support from EU Project NANOPOLY (No. GA 289061). The NTNU authors are supported by the Research Council of Norway through the FRINATEK Project No. 251068 with the title: “Engineering Metal-Polymer Interface for Enhanced Heat Transfer.”, Peer reviewed

This folder contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Nonlinear dynamics and chaos in an optomechanical beam", DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14965, have been obtained, PHENOMEN - H2020 Fet Open project, Peer reviewed

This folder contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Optical modulation of coherent phonon emission in optomechanical cavities", DOI: 10.1063/1.5040061, have been obtained., European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450), Peer reviewed

This folder contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Nanocrystalline silicon optomechanical cavities", DOI: 10.1364/OE.26.009829, have been obtained., European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450), Peer reviewed

This folder contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Synchronization of Optomechanical Nanobeams by Mechanical Interaction", DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.017402, have been obtained., European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450), Peer reviewed

This folder contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Mechanical oscillations in lasing microsphere", DOI: 10.1063/1.4997182, have been obtained., European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450), Peer reviewed

Spontaneous locking of the phase of a coherent phonon source to an external reference is demonstrated in a deeply sideband-unresolved optomechanical system. The high-amplitude mechanical oscillations are driven by the anharmonic modulation of the radiation pressure force that result from an absorption-mediated free-carrier/temperature limit cycle, i.e., self-pulsing. Synchronization is observed when the pump laser driving the mechanical oscillator to a self-sustained state is modulated by a radiofrequency tone. We employ a pump-probe phonon detection scheme based on an independent optical cavity to observe only the mechanical oscillator dynamics. The lock range of the oscillation frequency, i.e., the Arnold tongue, is experimentally determined over a range of external reference strengths, evidencing the possibility to tune the oscillator frequency for a range up to 350 kHz. The stability of the coherent phonon source is evaluated via its phase noise, with a maximum achieved suppression of 44 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset for a 100 MHz mechanical resonator. Introducing a weak modulation in the excitation laser reveals as a further knob to trigger, control and stabilize the dynamical solutions of self-pulsing based optomechanical oscillators, thus enhancing their potential as acoustic wave sources in a single-layer silicon platform., This research was funded by EU FET Open project PHENOMEN (GA: 713450). ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. G. A. and C. M. S.-T. acknowledge the support from the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00). D. N. U., G. A. and M. F. C. gratefully acknowledge the support of a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392), a BIST studentship, and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively. D. N. U. acknowledges the funding through the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PGC2018-094490-B-C22).

Nanoelectro-opto-mechanical systems enable the synergistic coexistence of electrical, mechanical, and optical signals on a chip to realize new functions. Most of the technology platforms proposed for the fabrication of these systems so far are not fully compatible with the mainstream CMOS technology, thus, hindering the mass-scale utilization. We have developed a CMOS technology platform for nanoelectro-opto-mechanical systems that includes piezoelectric interdigitated transducers for electronic driving of mechanical signals and nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams for an enhanced optomechanical interaction. Room-Temperature operation of devices at 2 GHz and with peak sensitivity down to 2.6 cavity phonons is demonstrated. Our proof-of-principle technology platform can be integrated and interfaced with silicon photonics, electronics, and MEMS devices and may enable multiple functions for coherent signal processing in the classical and quantum domains., This research has received funding from the European Union H2020 FET Open Project PHENOMEN (No. 713450). The ICN2 authors acknowledge support by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (Grant No. SEV-2019-0706), the MCIN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-100), and by the CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya. G.A. was supported by a BIST and MFC by a S. Ochoa Project Ph.D. studentships. G. M. acknowledges support from the EU ERC project LEIT (GA Nr. 885689). A.M. acknowledges support from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ (Projects PGC2018-094490-BC21 and ICTS-2017-28-UPV-9), from Generalitat Valenciana (BEST/2020/178, PROMETEO/2019/123, and IDIFEDER/2021/061) and from “Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR”., Peer reviewed

Controlling thermal energy transfer at the nanoscale and thermal properties has become critically important in many applications since it often limits device performance. In this study, the effects on thermal conductivity arising from the nanoscale structure of free-standing nanocrystalline silicon films and the increasing surface-to-volume ratio when fabricated into suspended optomechanical nanobeams are studied. Thermal transport and elucidate the relative impact of different grain size distributions and geometrical dimensions on thermal conductivity are characterized. A micro time-domain thermoreflectance method to study free-standing nanocrystalline silicon films and find a drastic reduction in the thermal conductivity, down to values below 10 W m–1 K–1 is used, with a stronger decrease for smaller grains. In optomechanical nanostructures, this effect is smaller than in membranes due to the competition of surface scattering in decreasing thermal conductivity. Finally, a novel versatile contactless characterization technique that can be adapted to any structure supporting a thermally shifted optical resonance is introduced. The thermal conductivity data agrees quantitatively with the thermoreflectance measurements. This study opens the way to a more generalized thermal characterization of optomechanical cavities and to create hot-spots with engineered shapes at the desired position in the structures as a means to study thermal transport in coupled photon-phonon structures., This work was supported by the European Commission FET Open project PHENOMEN (G.A. Nr. 713450). ICN2 was supported by the S. Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya. ICN2 authors acknowledge the support from the Spanish MICINN project SIP (PGC2018-101743-B-I00). D.N.U. and M.F.C. acknowledge the support of a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2014-15392) and a Severo Ochoa studentship, respectively. E.C.A. acknowledges financial support from the EU FET Open Project NANOPOLY. (GA 829061). A.M. acknowledges support from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant PGC2018-094490-B, PRX18/00126) and Generalitat Valenciana (grants PROMETEO/2019/123, and IDIFEDER/2018/033).

Dataset contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams"., Grants: European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450) NANOPOLY - Artificial permittivity and permeability engineering for future generation sub wavelength analogue integrated circuits and systems (829061), Peer reviewed

Glass microspheres are of great interest for numerous industrial, biomedical, or standalone applications, but it remains challenging to evaluate their elastic and optical properties in a non-destructive way. In this work, we address this issue by using two complementary contactless techniques to obtain elastic and optical constants of glass microspheres with diameters ranging from 10 to 60 µm. The first technique we employ is Brillouin Light Scattering, which yields scattering with longitudinal acoustic phonons, the frequency of which is found to be 5% lower than that measured in the bulk material. The second technique involves exciting the optical whispering gallery modes of the microspheres, which allows us to transduce some of their vibrational modes. The combined data allow for extracting the refractive index and the elastic constants of the material. Our findings indicate that the values of those properties are reduced with respect to their bulk material counterpart due to an effective decrease of the density, resulting from the fabrication process. We propose the use of this combined method to extract elastic and optical parameters of glass materials in microsphere geometries and compare them with the values of the pristine material from which they are formed., This work was supported by the MICINN projects ALLEGRO (Grant No. PID2021-124618NB-C22) and MOCCASIN-2D (Grant No. TED2021-132040B-C21). TN acknowledges the support of the European Commission through the Erasmus + program. J.M., E.C.A., M.F.C., and C.M.S.T. acknowledge the support of the Spanish projects S. Ochoa 2017-0706, MINECO Project No. FIS2015-70862-P, and the SGR Project No. SGR1238. J.M. and C.M.S.T. acknowledge support by the EC Future Emerging Technologies project Grant Agreement No. 753450 (PHENOMEN)., Peer reviewed

We investigate the feasibility of activating coherent mechanical oscillations in lasing microspheres by modulating the laser emission at a mechanical eigenfrequency. To this aim, 1.5%Nd3+:Barium-Titanium-Silicate microspheres with diameters around 50 μm were used as high quality factor (Q>106) whispering gallery mode lasing cavities. We have implemented a pump-and-probe technique in which the pump laser used to excite the Nd3+ ions is focused on a single microsphere with a microscope objective and a probe laser excites a specific optical mode with the evanescent field of a tapered fibre. The studied microspheres show monomode and multi-mode lasing action, which can be modulated in the best case up to 10 MHz. We have optically transduced thermally-activated mechanical eigenmodes appearing in the 50-70 MHz range, the frequency of which decreases with increasing the size of the microspheres. In a pump-and-probe configuration we observed modulation of the probe signal up to the maximum pump modulation frequency of our experimental setup, i.e., 20 MHz. This modulation decreases with frequency and is unrelated to lasing emission, pump scattering or thermal effects. We associate this effect to free-carrier-dispersion induced by multiphoton pump light absorption. On the other hand, we conclude that, in our current experimental conditions, it was not possible to resonantly excite the mechanical modes. Finally, we discuss on how to overcome these limitations by increasing the modulation frequency of the lasing emission and decreasing the frequency of the mechanical eigenmodes displaying a strong degree of optomechanical coupling.

Spontaneous locking of the phase of a coherent phonon source to an external reference is demonstrated in a deeply sideband-unresolved optomechanical system. The high-amplitude mechanical oscillations are driven by the anharmonic modulation of the radiation pressure force that result from an absorption-mediated free-carrier/temperature limit cycle, i.e., self-pulsing. Synchronization is observed when the pump laser driving the mechanical oscillator to a self-sustained state is modulated by a radiofrequency tone. We employ a pump-probe phonon detection scheme based on an independent optical cavity to observe only the mechanical oscillator dynamics. The lock range of the oscillation frequency, i.e., the Arnold tongue, is experimentally determined over a range of external reference strengths, evidencing the possibility to tune the oscillator frequency for a range up to 350 kHz. The stability of the coherent phonon source is evaluated via its phase noise, with a maximum achieved suppression of 44 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset for a 100 MHz mechanical resonator. Introducing a weak modulation in the excitation laser reveals as a further knob to trigger, control and stabilize the dynamical solutions of self-pulsing based optomechanical oscillators, thus enhancing their potential as acoustic wave sources in a single-layer silicon platform.

Artificial photonic materials, nanofabricated through wavelength-scale engineering, have shown astounding and promising results in harnessing, tuning, and shaping photonic beams. Metamaterials have proven to be often outperforming the natural materials they take inspiration from. In particular, metallic chiral metasurfaces have demonstrated large circular and linear dichroism of light which can be used, for example, for probing different enantiomers of biological molecules. Moreover, the precise control, through designs on demand, of the output polarization state of light impinging on a metasurface, makes this kind of structures particularly relevant for polarization-based telecommunication protocols. The reduced scale of the metasurfaces makes them also appealing for integration with nanomechanical elements, adding new dynamical features to their otherwise static or quasi-static polarization properties. To this end we designed, fabricated and characterized an all-dielectric metasurface on a suspended nanomembrane. Actuating the membrane mechanical motion, we show how the metasurface reflectance response can be modified, according to the spectral region of operation, with a corresponding intensity modulation or polarization conversion. The broad mechanical resonance at atmospheric pressure, centered at about 400 kHz, makes the metasurfaces structure suitable for high-frequency operation, mainly limited by the piezo-actuator controlling the mechanical displacement, which in our experiment reached modulation frequencies exceeding 1.3 MHz.

Cavity optomechanics has recently emerged as a new paradigm enabling the manipulation of mechanical motion via optical fields tightly confined in deformable cavities. When driving an optomechanical (OM) crystal cavity with a laser blue-detuned with respect to the optical resonance, the mechanical motion is amplified, ultimately resulting in phonon lasing at MHz and even GHz frequencies. In this work, we show that a silicon OM crystal cavity performs as an OM microwave oscillator when pumped above the threshold for self-sustained OM oscillations. To this end, we use an OM cavity designed to have a breathing-like mechanical mode at 3.897 GHz in a full phononic bandgap. Our measurements show that the first harmonic of the detected signal displays a phase noise of ≈−100 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz. Stronger blue-detuned driving leads eventually to the formation of an OM frequency comb, whose lines are spaced by the mechanical frequency. We also measure the phase noise for higher-order harmonics and show that, unlike in Brillouin oscillators, the noise is increased as corresponding to classical harmonic mixing. Finally, we present real-time measurements of the comb waveform and show that it can be fitted to a theoretical model recently presented. Our results suggest that silicon OM cavities could be relevant processing elements in microwave photonics and optical RF processing, in particular in disciplines requiring low weight, compactness and fiber interconnection.

Nanocrystalline materials exhibit properties that can differ substantially from those of their single crystal counterparts. As such, they provide ways to enhance and optimize their functionality for devices and applications. Here, we report on the optical, mechanical and thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon probed by means of optomechanical nanobeams to extract information of the dynamics of optical absorption, mechanical losses, heat generation and dissipation. The optomechanical nanobeams are fabricated using nanocrystalline films prepared by annealing amorphous silicon layers at different temperatures. The resulting crystallite sizes and the stress in the films can be controlled by the annealing temperature and time and, consequently, the properties of the films can be tuned relatively freely, as demonstrated here by means of electron microscopy and Raman scattering. We show that the nanocrystallite size and the volume fraction of the grain boundaries play a key role in the dissipation rates through nonlinear optical and thermal processes. Promising optical (13,000) and mechanical (1700) quality factors were found in the optomechanical cavity realized in the nanocrystalline Si resulting from annealing at 950°C. The enhanced absorption and recombination rates via the intragap states and the reduced thermal conductivity boost the potential to exploit these nonlinear effects in applications including Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), phonon lasing and chaos-based devices.

In this work, we study the dispersive coupling between optical quasi-bound states in the continuum at telecom wavelengths and GHz-mechanical modes in high-index wavelength-sized disks. We show that such cavities can display values of the optomechanical coupling rate on par with optomechanical crystal cavities (g0/2π ≃ 800 kHz). Interestingly, optomechanical coupling of optical reso-nances with mechanical modes at frequencies well above 10 GHz seems attainable. We also show that mechanical leakage in the substrate can be extremely reduced by placing the disk over a thin silica pedestal. Our results suggest a new route for ultra-compact optomechanical cavities that can potentially be arranged in massive arrays forming optome-chanical metasurfaces for application in signal processing or sensing., Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung; Generalitat Valenciana (BEST/2020/178, IDIFEDER/2018/033, PPC/2018/002, PROMETEO/2019/123); Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (PGC2018- 094490-B-C22); H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (713450, 829067).