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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OMT (OMT - Optomechanical Technologies)

Teaser

Summary

Nano- and micromechanical oscillators are in our information age indispensable technologies that enable navigation, timing, motional sensing and wireless communication. MEMS sensors measure rotation or acceleration and are embedded in any modern cell phone, plane or car. Mechanical oscillators have unique advantages over electronic counterparts. For example, their high quality factor have in recent years made mechanical oscillators part of any modern cell phone for radiofrequency filtering (FBAR-technology). In the past decade, a technological and scientific revolution has taken place around the optical and quantum control of such NEMS and MEMS devices; they can now be read out and controlled at the quantum level using light via radiation pressure within the field of Cavity Optomechanics. Mechanical oscillators can now reach a regime where they follow the laws of quantum mechanics.

Exploring this regime opens opportunities ranging from the generation of non-classical states of a macroscopic oscillator, to the entanglement of light and vibrations, to the realization of transducers based on mechanical oscillators and the storage of quantum states in low-loss mechanical modes.

OMT performs research on how to create new technologies based on optomechanical Physics. It aims to advance the state of the art in the field by pursuing several objectives:
(i) Optomechanical devices with novel 2D materials
(ii) Dissipative optomechanical systems for low noise amplification and novel non-reciprocal microwave components
(iii) Chip-scale microwave to optical conversion schemes
(iv) Theoretical possibilities for optomechanical multi-mode structures

Work performed

(i) Optomechanical devices with novel 2D materials
The route towards optomechanics exploiting the unique properties of 2D materials has been explored on many fronts in OMT.

In the optical domain, UKON has achieved promising results in combining 2D membranes with Fabry-Perot microcavities. Through strong collaboration within the consortium, freestanding 2D membranes were transferred onto samples suitable for insertion into the high-finesse optical cavities. A second approach in the optical domain pursued by UGENT is the integration of 2D materials into on-chip photonic cavities. Here, demonstration of transfer onto compatible chips was achieved through knowledge transfer inside the consortium. In the microwave domain, a critical study was performed by TU Delft regarding the benefits and feasibility of superconducting 2D materials for microwave optomechanics. The project direction was adjusted, to ensure the activities keep the consortium at the forefront of microwave optomechanics. A second approach to microwave optomechanics with suspended graphene was also pursued by AALTO, including important advances in developing the challenging fabrication, and the observation of the Josephson inductance of graphene at microwave frequencies.

(ii) Dissipative optomechanical systems for low noise amplification and novel non-reciprocal microwave components
Striving to improve the dissipation properties and coherence of nanomechanical oscillators, EPFL has successfully developed and characterized NEMS systems based on high stress materials. A radically different mechanical system was studied at UNIVIE, which succeeded in the observation of near-field coupling of a levitated nanoparticle to a photonic crystal cavity.
Towards the goal of tomographic reconstruction of the quantum state of a MEMS resonator, UHAM has assembled a squeezed light source and a homodyne detection setup. Finally, in a perspective of tech transfer from fundamental research to industry, BOSCH has modelled optomechanical phase shifters. Fabrication and measurements of the active devices are underway.

(iii) Chip-scale microwave to optical conversion schemes
Towards the development of opto-electro-mechanical systems, UCPH has realized fiber-based cavities with high finesse, developed a flip-chip assembly for membrane electromechanics, and demonstrated an integrated transducer in the classical regime. UPMC explored a similar platform: an electro-mechanical system based on a phononic membrane and a superconducting cavity was fabricated and characterized. Crucial steps towards the demonstration of an optomechanical chip-scale microwave oscillator were undertaken by CNRS. Optomechanical structures were realized with piezoelectric III-V semiconductors and integrated on an optical waveguide chip. III-V semiconductors are also investigated within IBMâ€™s research direction. Towards the achievement of quantum coherent microwave-to-optical conversion, IBM has developed a fabrication process for Gallium Phosphide (GaP) photonic devices, including optomechanical cavities, and successfully tested their performance.

(iv) Theoretical possibilities for optomechanical multi-mode structures
FAU has designed and optimized an optomechanical crystal platform that allows for topologically robust transport of phonons, with optical excitation and readout. The architecture offers a path towards multimode optomechanics, non-reciprocal phonon transport and strong coupling of co-localized modes.

Final results

The 2017 and 2018 Nobel Prizes in Physics, awarded respectively to Weiss, Barish and Thorne for the first detection of gravitational waves with the LIGO interferometers and to Arthur Ashkin for harnessing radiation pressure as a precise optical tweezer for microscopic dielectric particles and biological samples, remarkably support the scientific relevance and timeliness of Cavity Optomechanics.

Like optical tweezers, optomechanics exploits the radiation pressure for the manipulation and control of mechanical oscillators. On the other hand, the theoretical investigation of gravitational wave interferometry spurred the pioneering ideas at the core of optomechanics. Conversely, optomechanics continues to contribute to the quest for precise interferometric measurement of deformation and force, arriving so far as to probe the fundamental quantum limits to measurement sensitivity and to explore techniques for surpassing them.

Although the appeal and charm of furthering our understanding of quantum mechanics are clear and unequivocal, the prospects for a wider social impact of cavity optomechanics are equally interesting. The consortium partners place a remarkable focus on optomechanical technologies, exploiting as well a clear synergy with the FET-Proactive H2020 project HOT (Hybrid Optomechanical Technologies).

The fields of application of cavity optomechanics are numerous and diverse. A non-exhaustive list includes quantum, precision mechanical sensing, optical detection of radiofrequency signals and realization of active RF electronics building blocks. The project partners are leading research efforts in these directions, with the purpose of furthering the scope of optomechanical technologies and improving the state-of-the-art performance.

A fundamental goal of the OMT project is the training of a new generation of early stage researchers (ESR), who have the opportunity to contribute to these research efforts and advance the current state of the art. The training program offers ESRs a wider perception and overview of the field, in which European research groups play a leading role. A series of workshops focused on technical and transferable skills complement the training program, thereby offering ESRs unique expertise with broader career prospects.