A nanoelectromechanical tunable laser
A nanoelectromechanical tunable laser
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DOI：
10.1038/nphoton.2008.3
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发表时间：
2008-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
35
通讯作者：
Chang-Hasnain, Connie J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Huang, Michael C. Y.;Zhou, Ye;Chang-Hasnain, Connie J.
调谐振荡器频率的能力至关重要，是许多系统的基本构件，无论是机械系统还是电子系统(1，2)。然而，这一非常重要的功能在光学振荡器中仍然非常不足，特别是在半导体激光二极管(3，4)中。调谐激光频率(或波长)的限制包括调谐范围和调谐速度，这通常是毫秒或更慢。此外，调谐通常不是连续的，可能需要几个电气控制信号的复杂同步。在这封信中，我们提出了一种新的可调谐激光器结构，该结构采用了基于单层高对比度亚波长光栅的轻量级纳米机电反射镜。高对比度亚波长光栅反射器能够大幅降低镜面质量，从而提高机械谐振频率和调谐速度(5)。这使得波长可调的光源具有几十纳秒量级的潜在开关速度，并提出了各种新的实际应用领域，如生物或化学传感(6-8)、芯片级原子钟(9)和投影显示器(10，11)。
The ability to tune the frequency of an oscillator is of critical importance and is a fundamental building block for many systems, be they mechanical or electronic(1,2). However, this very important function is still highly inadequate in optical oscillators, particularly in semiconductor laser diodes(3,4). The limitations in tuning a laser frequency ( or wavelength) include the tuning range and the speed of tuning, which is typically milliseconds or slower. In addition, the tuning is often not continuous and may require complex synchronization of several electrical control signals. In this Letter, we present a new tunable laser structure with a lightweight nanoelectromechanical mirror based on a single- layer, highcontrast subwavelength grating. The high- contrast subwavelength grating reflector enables a drastic reduction of the mirror mass, which increases the mechanical resonant frequency and hence tuning speed(5). This allows for a wavelength- tunable light source with potential switching speeds of the order of tens of nanoseconds and suggests various new areas of practical application, such as bio- or chemical sensing(6-8), chip- scale atomic clocks(9) and projection displays(10,11).