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Copyright Nature Publishing Group Nov 2012

Abstract

Both classical and quantum systems utilize the interaction of light and matter across a wide range of energies. These systems are often not naturally compatible with one another and require a means of converting photons of dissimilar wavelengths to combine and exploit their different strengths. Here we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate coherent wavelength conversion of optical photons using photon-phonon translation in a cavity-optomechanical system. For an engineered silicon optomechanical crystal nanocavity supporting a 4-GHz localized phonon mode, optical signals in a 1.5 MHz bandwidth are coherently converted over a 11.2 THz frequency span between one cavity mode at wavelength 1,460 nm and a second cavity mode at 1,545 nm with a 93% internal (2% external) peak efficiency. The thermal- and quantum-limiting noise involved in the conversion process is also analysed, and in terms of an equivalent photon number signal level are found to correspond to an internal noise level of only 6 and 4 × 10-3 quanta, respectively.

Details

Title
Coherent optical wavelength conversion via cavity optomechanics
Author
Hill, Jeff T; Safavi-naeini, Amir H; Chan, Jasper; Painter, Oskar
Pages
1196
Publication year
2012
Publication date
Nov 2012
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1220398358
Copyright
Copyright Nature Publishing Group Nov 2012