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A novel processing method has been applied to create optical
microcavities having Q factors as high as 500 million on silicon wafers.
These devices open up many new research opportunities in lab-on-chip
applications. After describing the processing and passive optical
properties of these devices, the consequences of resonant energy buildup
in a microscale, ultra-high-Q system will be described. Whereas in
macroscopic resonators the influence of radiation pressure is weak and
only appreciable at high power levels, the mutual coupling of optical
and mechanical modes is significantly enhanced in optical microcavities
which simultaneously exhibit ultra-high-Q optical modes and high-Q
mechanical modes in the RF-frequency range. This has made it possible to
observe for the first time the excitation of mechanical eigenmodes via
the radiation pressure of the confined photons[1]. These results confirm
for the first time the work of V.B. Braginsky, who theoretically
proposed this effect - termed parametric oscillation instability - in
the context of the Laser gravitational observatory (LIGO).
1. Kippenberg, T.J., H. Rokhsari, T. Carmon, A. Scherer, and K.J. Vahala, Analysis of Radiation-Pressure Induced Mechanical Oscillation of an Optical Microcavity. Physiscal Review Letters, 2005. 95: p. 033901. |
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