https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202023811011
Optomechanical microwave oscillator and frequency comb generation in a full phononic bandgap 1D optomechanical crystal cavity
1 Nanophotonics Technology Center, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
2 Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Laguna
3 MIND-IN2UB, Departament dEnginyeria Electrònica i Biomèdica, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
∗ e-mail: laumermo@ntc.upv.es
Published online: 20 August 2020
In this work we show that a silicon optomechanical crystal cavity can be used as an optomechanical oscillator when driven to the phonon lasing condition with a blue-detuned laser. The optomechanical cavity is designed to have a breathing like mode vibrating at Ωm/2π =3.897 GHz in a full phononic bandgap. Our measurements show that the first harmonic displays a phase noise of -100 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz. Stronger bluedetuned driving leads eventually to the formation of an optomechanical frequency comb, with lines spaced by the mechanical frequency. The measured phase noise grows up with the harmonic number, as in classical harmonic mixing. We present real-time measurements of the comb waveform and show that it can be adjusted to a theoretical model recently presented. Our results suggest that silicon optomechanical cavities can play a role in integrated microwave photonics.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2020
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
