Integrated Optomechanics and GHz acousto-optics

Integrated photonics provides a high-fidelity, sophisticated and versatile optical platform for exploration of light-matter interactions on-chip. In this talk, I will showcase several examples of my group’s research in using integrated photonic chips as the underlying optical breadboard to study new optical physics and materials and develop novel devices. We first demonstrate a cavity optomechanical system that can mechanically shuttle photons between cavities and detect the spin angular momentum of light. We then show integrated acousto-optic devices operating at microwave frequency to induce strong photon-phonon interactions in nanophotonic cavities and waveguides. The reinvented acousto-optic devices can lead to non-reciprocity and nonlinear scattering of light and find applications in microwave photonic. On the material side, we have been exploring the correspondences in the band-structure, chirality and topology between the engineered photons states in nanophotonics structures and states in novel materials to enable tailored light-matter interaction. Examples of the include 2D materials, magnetic materials and topological insulators. Particularly, we have been focusing on black phosphorus, a newly emerged 2D material with a direct and narrow bandgap, on silicon photonics to achieve efficient and high-speed photodetection and modulation of infrared light. ​