Acoustic wave devices provide a promising chip-scale platform for efficiently
coupling radio frequency (RF) and optical fields. Here, we use an integrated
piezo-optomechanical circuit platform that exploits both the piezoelectric and
photoelastic coupling mechanisms to link 2.4 GHz RF waves to 194 THz (1550 nm)
optical waves, through coupling to propagating and localized 2.4 GHz acoustic
waves. We demonstrate acousto-optic modulation, resonant in both the optical
and mechanical domains, in which waveforms encoded on the RF carrier are mapped
to the optical field. We also show opto-acoustic modulation, in which the
application of optical pulses gates the transmission of propagating acoustic
waves. The time-domain characteristics of this system under both pulsed RF and
pulsed optical excitation are considered in the context of the different
physical pathways involved in driving the acoustic waves, and modeled through
the coupled mode equations of cavity optomechanics.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
