Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2609.40354

Design of Mechanically Compliant Membrane Reflectors for Giant Optical Phase Nonlinearity

Lior Michaeli·Harry A. Atwater
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Optical nonlinearities arise when the response of a photonic system depends on light intensity. Radiation pressure can create such a nonlinearity by moving a mechanically compliant reflector, thereby shifting the phase of the reflected light. Based on measured properties, we predict a giant phase responsivity of 263 rad W$^{-1}$ and a device-equivalent $n_{2,\mathrm{eff}} = 5.4 \times 10^{-7}$ m$^2$ W$^{-1}$ for a silicon nitride membrane trampoline with serpentine springs. We introduce strength-range-aperture metrics for reflective phase elements. Among reported mechanical resonators compared under a common direct-reflection protocol, this trampoline is an outlier, combining high compliance, practical optical accessibility, and 99.85% retention of its small-signal phase responsivity through a full $2π$ reflected-phase shift. Practical implementation requires optical and thermal co-design. Our framework indicates design priorities for future mechano-optical phase elements.

Explore related subjects

physics.opticscond-mat.mes-hallphysics.app-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Lior Michaeli, Harry A. Atwater. 2026-09-30. Design of Mechanically Compliant Membrane Reflectors for Giant Optical Phase Nonlinearity. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40354

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Long-Term $10^{-18}$-Level Flexible Stability Transfer with a Hybrid-Locked Kerr Microcomb

Optical atomic clocks are moving toward deployable systems, with commercial instruments entering the $10^{-17}$ fractional-frequency-instability regime. Transferring this performance to accessible microwave and radio-frequency signals requires compact optical frequency combs that preserve long-term stability during frequency division. Integrated Kerr microcombs have opened a new era in chip-scale precision metrology, enabling optical-frequency division and low-noise microwave generation. Yet, whether they can robustly preserve the stability required by state-of-the-art optical lattice and single-ion clocks over hour-long timescales remains an open question. Here we demonstrate that a hybrid passive-active stabilization of a Kerr microcomb, combining injection-locking of one tooth with active stabilization of a second, freely selected tooth through pump-frequency actuation, can indeed satisfy the metrological requirements at the highest level. The separated control channels effectively orthogonalize stabilization of the two microcomb frequency degrees of freedom while leaving the pump frequency unconstrained. A continuous five-hour measurement, without drift removal, yields a residual relative instability of $1.4\times10^{-16}$ at 1 s and $2\times10^{-18}$ at 4000 s on an out-of-loop tooth. We further show that the residual instability remains unchanged as the injection power is varied over 14 dB, demonstrating robust operation across a broad locking range. These results bring integrated microcomb stabilization into the residual-noise regime required to preserve the long-term performance of emerging optical lattice and single-ion clock systems.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2026

Momentum-space non-Hermitian skin effect in an exciton-polariton system

Localization of a macroscopic number of eigenstates on a real-space boundary, known as the non-Hermitian skin effect, is one of the striking topological features emerging from non-Hermiticity. Realizing this effect typically requires periodic (lattice) systems with asymmetry of intersite coupling, which is not readily available in many physical platforms. Instead, it is meticulously engineered, e.g., in photonics, which results in complex structures requiring precise fabrication steps. Here, we propose a simpler mechanism: introducing an asymmetric, purely imaginary potential in a topologically trivial system induces momentum-space localization akin to the skin effect. We experimentally demonstrate this localization using exciton polaritons, hybrid light-matter quasi-particles in a simple engineered `round box' trap, pumped by a laser pump offset from the trap center. The effect disappears if the pump is concentric with the trap. The localization persists and becomes stronger at higher densities of polaritons, when a non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensate is formed and the system becomes nonlinear. Our approach offers a new route to realizing skin effects in continuous, non-periodic systems and exploring the interplay of non-Hermiticity, topology, and nonlinearity in macroscopic quantum states.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2026

Highly-efficient perturbative Raman shifting by engineering the nonlinear temporal response

Raman scattering underlies a broad range of spectroscopic and light-generation techniques, yet its conventional description, based on the Raman gain spectrum, accurately describes only long-pulse, steady-state dynamics. We employ a time-domain theoretical approach to account for spectrotemporal aspects of continuous frequency-shifting, which are not addressed by prior theories. In particular, molecules with strong Raman responses do not produce an efficient soliton self-frequency shift in gas-filled hollow-core fibers. The time-domain analysis exposes temporal and spectral distortions from the Raman response that impact frequency-shifting detrimentally, and identifies how these distortions can be suppressed by reducing the Raman interaction to a perturbation on the electronic response. Experiments that employ gas mixtures with tunable Raman fractions of the nonlinear response demonstrate up to a four-fold increase in quantum efficiency (from 20 to 80%) compared to the pure molecular gas, and unity-efficiency Raman shifting will be possible. The time-domain framework uncovers phenomena that are inaccessible through the frequency-domain treatment of Raman scattering, and it applies to Raman interactions in solids, liquids, and gases across Raman temporal regimes.

physics.optics↗