106 research outputs found
Mechanical mode engineering with orthotropic metamaterial membranes
Metamaterials are structures engineered at a small scale with respect to the
wavelength of the excitations they interact with. These structures behave as
artificial materials whose properties can be chosen by design, mocking and even
outperforming natural materials and making them the quintessential tool for
manipulation of wave systems. In this Letter we show how the acoustic
properties of a silicon nitride membrane can be affected by nanopatterning. The
degree of asymmetry in the pattern geometry induces an artificial anisotropic
elasticity, resulting in the splitting of otherwise degenerate mechanical
modes. The artificial material we introduce has a maximum Ledbetter-Migliori
anisotropy of 1.568, favorably comparing to most bulk natural crystals. With an
additional freedom in defining arbitrary asymmetry axes by pattern rotation,
our approach can be useful for fundamental investigation of material properties
as well as for devising improved sensors of light, mass or acceleration based
on micromechanical resonators
High frequency mechanical excitation of a silicon nanostring with piezoelectric aluminum nitride layers
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 nano-mechanical devices are
particularly suitable for hybrid integration due to the easiness of fabrication
at multi-scales 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 are injected in the Si layer where the material has been
localy patterned and etched to form a suspended nanostring. Characterizing the
nanostring vertical displacement induced by the SAW, we found 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 strong candidate for hybrid quantum systems
Efficient microwave frequency conversion mediated by a photonics compatible silicon nitride nanobeam oscillator
Microelectromechanical systems and integrated photonics provide the basis for many reliable and compact circuit elements in modern communication systems. Electro-opto-mechanical devices are currently one of the leading approaches to realize ultra-sensitive, low-loss transducers for an emerging quantum information technology. Here we present an on-chip microwave frequency converter based on a planar aluminum on silicon nitride platform that is compatible with slot-mode coupled photonic crystal cavities. We show efficient frequency conversion between two propagating microwave modes mediated by the radiation pressure interaction with a metalized dielectric nanobeam oscillator. We achieve bidirectional coherent conversion with a total device efficiency of up to ~60%, a dynamic range of 2 × 10⁹ photons/s and an instantaneous bandwidth of up to 1.7 kHz. A high fidelity quantum state transfer would be possible if the drive dependent output noise of currently ~14 photons s⁻¹ Hz⁻¹ is further reduced. Such a silicon nitride based transducer is in situ reconfigurable and could be used for on-chip classical and quantum signal routing and filtering, both for microwave and hybrid microwave-optical applications
Electron beam induced current in InSb-InAs nanowire type-III heterostructures
InSb-InAs nanowire heterostructure diodes investigated by electron beam induced current (EBIC) demonstrate an unusual spatial profile where the sign of the EBIC signal changes in the vicinity of the heterointerface. A qualitative explanation confirmed by theoretical calculations is based on the specific band diagram of the structure representing a type-III heterojunction with an accumulation layer in InAs. The sign of the EBIC signal depends on the specific parameters of this layer. In the course of measurements, the diffusion length of holes in InAs and its temperature dependence are also determined
Stress-strain in electron-beam activated polymeric micro-actuators
Actuation of thin polymeric films via electron irradiation is a promising avenue to realize devices based on strain engineered two-dimensional materials. Complex strain profiles demand a deep understanding of the mechanics of the polymeric layer under electron irradiation; in this article, we report a detailed investigation on electron-induced stress on a poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) thin film material. After an assessment of stress values using a method based on dielectric cantilevers, we directly investigate the lateral shrinkage of PMMA patterns on epitaxial graphene, which reveals a universal behavior, independent of the electron acceleration energy. By knowing the stress-strain curve, we finally estimate an effective Young's modulus of PMMA on top of graphene, which is a relevant parameter for PMMA-based electron-beam lithography and strain engineering applications
Far-field characterization of the thermal dynamics in lasing microspheres
This work reports the dynamical thermal behavior of lasing microspheres
placed on a dielectric substrate while they are homogeneously heated-up by the
top-pump laser used to excite the active medium. The lasing modes are collected
in the far-field and their temporal spectral traces show characteristic
lifetimes of about 2 ms. The latter values scale with the microsphere radius
and are independent of the pump power in the studied range. Finite-Element
Method simulations reproduce the experimental results, revealing that the
thermal dynamics is dominated by the heat dissipated towards the substrate
through the medium surrounding the contact point. The characteristic system
scale regarding thermal transport is of few hundreds of nanometers, thus
enabling an effective toy model for investigating heat conduction in
non-continuum gaseous media and near-field radiative energy transfer.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Electrical properties and band diagram of InSb-InAs nanowire type-III heterojunctions
The electrical properties of nanowire-based n-InSb-n-InAs heterojunctions were investigated theoretically and experimentally. Analysis of the current-voltage characteristics showed that the current through the heterojunction is caused mostly by generation-recombination processes in the InSb and at the heterointerface. Due to the partially overlapping valence band of InSb and the conduction band of InAs, the second process is fast and activationless. Theoretical analysis showed that, depending on the heterojunction parameters, the flux of non-equilibrium minority carriers may have a different direction, explaining the experimentally observed non-monotonic coordinate dependence of the electron beam induced current
Oscillatory coupling between a monolithic whispering-gallery resonator and a buried bus waveguide
We report on a combined theoretical and experimental study of the optical
coupling between a microdisk resonator and a waveguide laying on different
planes. While the lateral coupling between a planar resonator and a waveguide
is characterized by a unique distance at which the resonant waveguide
transmission vanishes because of destructive interference, the vertical
coupling geometry exhibits an oscillatory behavior in the coupling amplitude as
a function of the vertical gap. This effect manifests experimentally as
oscillations in both the waveguide transmission and the mode quality factor. An
analytical description based on coupled-mode theory and a two-port
beam-splitter model of the waveguide-resonator coupling is developed, which
compares successfully both to experimental data and numerical simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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