arXiv · 1601.05248
Brillouin Scattering Self-Cancellation
Abstract
The interaction between light and acoustic phonons is strongly modified in sub-wavelength confinement, and has led to the demonstration and control of Brillouin scattering in photonic structures such as nano-scale optical waveguides and cavities. Besides the small optical mode volume, two physical mechanisms come into play simultaneously: a volume effect caused by the strain induced refractive index perturbation (known as photo-elasticity), and a surface effect caused by the shift of the optical boundaries due to mechanical vibrations. As a result proper material and structure engineering allows one to control each contribution individually. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate the perfect cancellation of Brillouin scattering by engineering a silica nanowire with exactly opposing photo-elastic and moving-boundary effects. This demonstration provides clear experimental evidence that the interplay between the two mechanisms is a promising tool to precisely control the photon-phonon interaction, enhancing or suppressing it.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Omar Florez, Paulo F. Jarschel, Yovanny A. V. Espinel, Cristiano M. B. Cordeiro, Thiago P. Mayer Alegre, Gustavo S. Wiederhecker, Paulo Dainese. 2016-01-20. Brillouin Scattering Self-Cancellation. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11759
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.