Designing evanescent optical interactions to control the expression of Casimir forces in optomechanical structures
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Author
Rodriguez, Alejandro W.
Woolf, David
Hui, Pui-Chuen
Iwase, Eiji
McCauley, Alexander P.
Capasso, Federico
Loncar, Marko
Johnson, Steven G.
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3589119Metadata
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Rodriguez, Alejandro W., David Woolf, Pui-Chuen Hui, Eiji Iwase, Alexander P. McCauley, Federico Capasso, Marko Loncar, and Steven G. Johnson. 2011. “Designing Evanescent Optical Interactions to Control the Expression of Casimir Forces in Optomechanical Structures.” Applied Physics Letters 98 (19): 194105. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3589119.Abstract
We propose an optomechanical structure consisting of a photonic-crystal (holey) membrane suspended above a layered silicon-on-insulator substrate in which resonant bonding/antibonding optical forces created by externally incident light from above enable all-optical control and actuation of stiction effects induced by the Casimir force. In this way, one can control how the Casimir force is expressed in the mechanical dynamics of the membrane, not by changing the Casimir force directly but by optically modifying the geometry and counteracting the mechanical spring constant to bring the system in or out of regimes where Casimir physics dominate. The same optical response (reflection spectrum) of the membrane to the incident light can be exploited to accurately measure the effects of the Casimir force on the equilibrium separation of the membrane.Terms of Use
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