Spectrally broadband electro-optic modulation with nanoelectromechanical string resonators

In this paper, we present a shutter-based electro-optical modulator made of two parallel nanoelectromechanical silicon nitride string resonators. These strings are covered with electrically connected gold electrodes and actuated either by Lorentz or electrostatic forces. The in-plane string vibratio...

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Veröffentlicht in:Optics express 2020-04, Vol.28 (8), p.12294-12301
Hauptverfasser: Cazier, Nicolas, Sadeghi, Pedram, Chien, Miao-Hsuan, Shawrav, Mostafa Moonir, Schmid, Silvan
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:In this paper, we present a shutter-based electro-optical modulator made of two parallel nanoelectromechanical silicon nitride string resonators. These strings are covered with electrically connected gold electrodes and actuated either by Lorentz or electrostatic forces. The in-plane string vibrations modulate the width of the gap between the strings. The gold electrodes on both sides of the gap act as a mobile mirror that modulate the laser light that is focused in the middle of this gap. These electro-optical modulators can achieve an optical modulation depth of almost 100% for a driving voltage lower than 1 mV at a frequency of 314 kHz. The frequency range is determined by the string resonance frequency, which can take values of the order of a few hundred kilohertz to several megahertz. The strings are driven in the strongly nonlinear regime, which allows a frequency tuning of several kilohertz without significant effect on the optical modulation depth.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.388324