Nonlinear Nano-Optomechanics

该项目的目的是探索在高度非线性状态下微/纳米光子器件的光与机械运动之间的相互作用，表现出尚未系统研究的深刻的非线性物理。通过设计微/纳米光子结构，在器件的光和机械运动之间产生有趣的高度非线性耦合，PI的小组旨在为在芯片上处理信息开辟一条变革性的研究途径，在经典和量子体制以及光学和机械领域，这将提供超越传统方法的各种新颖的光力学功能。该研究有望显著提高纳米光力学、光子信息处理和量子测量的能力和容量。基础研究成果和设备创新将通过发表论文向更广泛的研究界传播；研究成果也将纳入罗彻斯特大学PI提供的课程。该研究将培养纳米光子学、光力学和量子光学等跨学科领域的研究生和本科生。通过外展计划，该项目还将有助于促进K-12学生的兴趣和参与，并扩大代表性不足群体的参与。提出的研究旨在探索高度非线性状态下的腔纳米光力学，这是目前任何方法都无法达到的。在已开发的纳米光力学结构中，巨大的非线性光力学耦合产生了非常深刻的非线性光力学动力学，在经典和量子状态下都提供了多种新颖的功能。凭借在纳米光子和纳米光机械设备的物理和工程方面的强大专业知识，PI的团队将开展探索性研究，研究非线性光力学的有趣物理，并将其应用于探测和工程纳米光机械系统的机械运动和噪声特性，这些特性是传统方法无法达到的，并用于处理性能明显超过当前最先进水平的光子信号。初步结果显示，实现这些目标大有希望。

The objective of this project is to explore the interactions between light and mechanical motions of micro/nano-photonic devices in the highly nonlinear regime that exhibits profound nonlinear physics which has not yet been systematically studied. By engineering micro/nano-photonic structures to produce intriguing highly nonlinear coupling between light and mechanical motions of the devices, the PI's group aims to open up a transformative research avenue for processing information on chip, in both classical and quantum regimes and in both optical and mechanical domains, that would offer diverse novel optomechanical functionalities beyond the reach of conventional approaches. The proposed research is expected to significantly advance the capability and capacity of nano-optomechanics, photonic information processing, and quantum measurement. Fundamental research findings and device innovations will be disseminated to the broader research communities through published papers; the research outcomes will be also incorporated into the courses offered by the PI at the University of Rochester. The proposed research would result in training graduate students and undergraduate students in the diverse interdisciplinary areas of nanophotonics, optomechanics, and quantum optics. Through the outreach programs, this project will also help promote the interests and participations of K-12 students, and broaden the participations from underrepresented groups. The proposed research aims to explore cavity nano-optomechanics in the highly nonlinear regime that is inaccessible to any current approach. The gigantic nonlinear optomechanical coupling in the developed nano-optomechanical structures produces very profound nonlinear optomechanical dynamics that offers diverse novel functionalities in both classical and quantum regimes. With strong expertise in both physics and engineering of nanophotonic and nano-optomechnaical devices, the PI's group will carry out explorative research to study the intriguing physics of nonlinear optomechanics and to apply it for probing and engineering mechanical motion and noise characteristics of nano-optomechnaical systems in the regime inaccessible to conventional approaches, and for processing photonic signals with performance significantly beyond current state-of-the-art. The preliminary results have shown great promise to achieve these goals.