A Silicon Electromechanical Photodetector

作者：Tallur Siddharth; Bhave Sunil A^*

来源：Nano Letters, 2013, 13(6): 2760-2765.

DOI：10.1021/nl400980u

• Optomechanics
• silicon photodetector
• optical gradient force
• electromechanical capacitive sense
• photon-phonon translator
• integrated optics

Optomechanical systems have enabled wide-band optical frequency conversion and multichannel all-optical radio frequency amplification. Realization of an on-chip silicon communication platform is limited by photodetectors needed to convert optical information to electrical signals for further signal processing. In this paper we present a coupled silicon microresonator, which converts near-IR optical intensity modulation at 174.2 MHz and 1.198 GHz into motional electrical current. This device emulates a photodetector which detects intensity modulation of continuous wave laser light in the full-width-at-half-maximum bandwidth of the mechanical resonance. The resonant principle of operation eliminates dark current challenges associated with convetional photodetectors. While the results presented here constitute a purely classical demonstration, the device can also potentially be extended to the quantum regime to realize a photon-phonon translator.

• 出版日期2013-6