ECE 69500 - Optomechanics: How Light Impacts Mechanics
Course Details
Lecture Hours: 3 Credits: 3
Areas of Specialization:
- Fields and Optics
- Microelectronics and Nanotechnology
Counts as:
Experimental Course Offered:
Spring 2016, Spring 2019
Requisites:
Graduate Standing in ECE, Physics, or Mechanical Engineering; Instructor Permission
Requisites by Topic:
Basic knowledge of Classical and Quantum Mechanics
Catalog Description:
Light can exert pressure on matter. This phenomenon, called radiation pressure, has been well observed at the macro-scale and is well known by astrophysicists. Such forces also occur in the MEMS and quantum world, in confining light in microcavities, with two main effects: parametric instability (mechanical amplification and oscillation) and radiation pressure back-action cooling. Parametric instability offers a novel "photonic clock" which is driven purely by the pressure of light. In contrast, radiation pressure cooling can surpass existing cryogenic technologies and offers cooling to phonon occupancies of MEMS-sized objects below unity and provides a route towards chip-scale quantum optomechanics. The course will begin with theory, design, fabrication and characterization of MEMS, Photonics and Optomechanical systems. The course will then cover experimental progress to prepare quantum states of mechanical structures and back-action evasion techniques, and discuss applications such as Opto-Acoustic Oscillator (OAO) and Opto-Mechanical Gyroscope (OMG).
Required Text(s):
None.
Recommended Text(s):
- Cavity Optomechanics , Aspelmeyer, Markus; Kippenberg, Tobias J.; and Marquardt, Florian , Springer , 2014 , ISBN No. 9783642553110
- Practical MEMS , Kaajakari, Ville , Small Gear Publishing , 2009 , ISBN No. 0982299109
Learning Outcomes
A student who successfully fulfills the course requirements will have demonstrated:
- an ability to fabricate Optomechanical resonators
- an ability to design optomechanical oscillators
- an ability to analyze oscillator performance
- an ability to design optomechanical gyroscopes
Lecture Outline:
Week | Topic |
---|---|
1 | Mechanical resonator design |
2 | Mechanical resonator fabrication |
3 | Optical resonator design |
4 | Optical resonator fabrication |
5 | Coupled MEMS + Optical resonator design |
6 | Optomechanical resonator design continued: frequency scaling, materials, transducers |
7 | Co-fabrication technologies |
8 | Classical Case Study: Optomechanical Sensors for Force, Displacement and Acceleration |
9 | Classical Case Study: Optomechanical Actuation for Oscillators, Gyroscope and Switches |
10 | Cooling to Ground State |
11 | Refresher on quantum mechanics |
12 | Quantum states of mechanical structures |
13 | State transfer between Superconducting qubits and photons |
14 | State transfer between Superconducting qubits and photons |
15 | Quantum Case Study: State transfer between phonons and solid-state defect qubits in diamond |
Assessment Method:
Homework, projects