Acoustoelectric optomechanical devices
| DWPI Title: Acoustoelectric Brillouin device for employing Brillouin interactions by acoustoelectric interactions used in nonlinear optical processes, has substrate with layer to support acoustoelectric coupling, where waveguide on layer transmits optical signal and optical pump |
| Abstract: Devices employing Brillouin interactions that can be modified by acoustoelectric (AE) interactions, thereby enabling control over the devices' nonlinear optical susceptibility, are described. Modification of the phonon dissipation rates through application of quasistatic electric fields in the semiconductor can improve the performance of Brillouin photonic devices. These AE Brillouin interactions allow for local control of the phonon phase velocity and thus the Brillouin scattering frequencies, providing an electronic means to compensate for inhomogeneous broadening that occurs over large length scales. Moreover, these AE Brillouin interactions allow Brillouin scattering processes to employ phonon coherence lengths that can achieve parity with and even exceed those of the photons, enabling fully coherent three-wave parametric-like processes. Devices in accordance with various aspects of the present invention have simultaneously demonstrated, using these effects, both large optomechanical confinement and coupling, and AE coupling. |
| Use: Acoustoelectric Brillouin device for employing Brillouin interactions by acoustoelectric (AE) interactions used in nonlinear optical processes. |
| Advantage: The AE effect yields attenuation and consequently additional suppression of unwanted backward propagating phonons, further enhancing the degree of accessible non-reciprocity. the design process for inter-modal Brillouin devices to reduce the required acoustic wavelength to as close to the waveguide dimensions as possible to achieve higher AE and OM coupling strengths. This makes the device more resistive and enables more efficient lateral heat transport by increasing the surface to volume ratio compared to wider devices. |
| Novelty: The device has a substrate (420) with a layer (430) to support an acoustoelectric (AE) coupling. A waveguide on the layer transmits an optical signal and an optical pump. The waveguide has a semiconductor material with free carriers. Two contacts are in electrical contact with corresponding opposite ends of a portion of the material to define an interaction region. The contacts apply a drift field across the region, where a combination of the layer and the region simultaneously support both optical and acoustic modes to enable a strong overlap of the modes and significant optomechanical coupling. The substrate includes silicon or sapphire. A portion of the waveguide is suspended above the substrate. |
| Filed: 11/30/2022 |
| Application Number: US18071846A |
| Tech ID: SD 15741.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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