Micropillar Resonators for Optomechanics in the Extremely High 19-95-GHz Frequency Range.

Strong confinement, in all dimensions, and high mechanical frequencies are highly desirable for quantum optomechanical applications. We show that GaAs/AlAs micropillar cavities fully confine not only photons but also extremely high frequency (19-95 GHz) acoustic phonons. A strong increase of the optomechanical coupling upon reducing the pillar size is observed, together with record room-temperature Q-frequency products of 10^{14}. These mechanical resonators can integrate quantum emitters or polariton condensates, opening exciting perspectives at the interface with nonlinear and quantum optics.

Polariton Resonances for Ultrastrong Coupling Cavity Optomechanics in GaAs/AlAs Multiple Quantum Wells.

Polariton-mediated light-sound interaction is investigated through resonant Brillouin scattering experiments in GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells. Photoelastic coupling enhancement at exciton-polariton resonance reaches 10(5) at 30 K as compared to a typical bulk solid room temperature transparency value. When applied to GaAs based cavity optomechanical nanodevices, this result opens the path to huge displacement sensitivities and to ultrastrong coupling regimes in cavity optomechanics with couplings g(0) in the range of 100 GHz.

Towards GHz-THz cavity optomechanics in DBR-based semiconductor resonators.

Resonators based on acoustic distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) were optimized to work in the GHz-THz regime, and grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We show that in structures made of GaAlAs alloys a simultaneous optimal confinement of light in the visible range and phonons in the tens of GHz range can be achieved. We report time resolved differential optical reflectivity experiments performed with fs-ps laser pulses. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with simulations based on standard transfer matrix methods. The resonant behavior of the photoelastic coefficient is discussed. The perfect optic-acoustic mode overlapping, added to a strongly enhanced coupling mechanism, implies that these DBR-based cavities could be the base of highly efficient optomechanical resonators.

Strong optical-mechanical coupling in a vertical GaAs/AlAs microcavity for subterahertz phonons and near-infrared light.

We show that distributed Bragg reflector GaAs/AlAs vertical cavities designed to confine photons are automatically optimal to confine phonons of the same wavelength, strongly enhancing their interaction. We study the impulsive generation of intense coherent and monochromatic acoustic phonons by following the time evolution of the elastic strain in picosecond-laser experiments. Efficient optical detection is assured by the strong phonon backaction on the high-Q optical cavity mode. Large optomechanical factors are reported (~THz/nm range). Pillar cavities based in these structures are predicted to display picogram effective masses, almost perfect sound extraction, and threshold powers for the stimulated emission of phonons in the range µW-mW, opening the way for the demonstration of phonon "lasing" by parametric instability in these devices.

Bloch oscillations of THz acoustic phonons in coupled nanocavity structures.

Nanophononic Bloch oscillations and Wannier-Stark ladders have been recently predicted to exist in specifically tailored structures formed by coupled nanocavities. Using pump-probe coherent phonon generation techniques we demonstrate that Bloch oscillations of terahertz acoustic phonons can be directly generated and probed in these complex nanostructures. In addition, by Fourier transforming the time traces we had access to the proper eigenmodes in the frequency domain, thus evidencing the related Wannier-Stark ladder. The observed Bloch oscillation dynamics are compared with simulations based on a model description of the coherent phonon generation and photoelastic detection processes.

Enhancement and inhibition of coherent phonon emission of a Ni film in a BaTiO3/SrTiO3 cavity.

We report pump-probe time resolved reflectivity experiments in a hybrid air-Ni metal-BaTiO(3)/SrTiO(3) oxide mirror phonon cavity. We demonstrate that the generated coherent acoustic phonon spectra of the impulsively excited metallic film can be inhibited or enhanced in the phonon cavity with respect to a Ni film directly grown on a SrTiO(3) substrate. The experiments are compared with simulations that highlight the role of the phonon density of states in the coherent acoustic emission, extending concepts at the base of the optical Purcell effect to the field of phononics.

Lifetime of THz acoustic nanocavity modes.

We present an ultrahigh resolution Raman study of the lifetime of 1 THz acoustic phonons confined in nanocavities. We demonstrate that the cavity Q factor can be controlled by design. Anharmonicity contributes only marginally to limit the cavity phonon lifetime, even at room temperature, while thickness fluctuations in the scale of 1/10 of a unit cell are the main limitation for the performance of THz phonon cavities.

Selective optical generation of coherent acoustic nanocavity modes.

Femtosecond pump-probe experiments on a Ga0.85In0.15As nanocavity enclosed by two Ga(0.85)In(0.15)As/AlAs phonon Bragg mirrors reveal selective generation of terahertz confined acoustic modes and regular folded phonons. Selective generation of the confined modes alone is achievable for laser excitation at certain energies below the mirror absorption edges, corresponding to electronic transitions within the cavity layer only. Calculations based on the photoelastic effect explain the experimental results. Decay times of cavity and regular modes evidence longer decay times and anharmonic effects for the cavity mode.

From spin flip excitations to the spin susceptibility enhancement of a two-dimensional electron gas.

The g-factor enhancement of the spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas was measured directly over a wide range of spin polarizations, using spin flip resonant Raman scattering spectroscopy on two-dimensional electron gases embedded in Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te semimagnetic quantum wells. At zero Raman transferred momentum, the single-particle spin flip excitation, energy Z*, coexists in the Raman spectrum with the spin flip wave of energy Z, the bare giant Zeeman splitting. We compare the measured g-factor enhancement with recent spin-susceptibility enhancement theories and deduce the spin-polarization dependence of the mass renormalization.

Coherent generation of acoustic phonons in an optical microcavity.

Ultrafast coherent generation of acoustic phonons is studied in a semiconductor optical microcavity. The confinement of the light pulse amplifies both the generation and the detection of phonons. In addition, the standing wave character of the photon field modifies the generation and detection phonon bandwidth. Coherent generation experiments in an acoustic nanocavity embedded in an optical microcavity are reported as a function of laser energy and incidence angle to evidence the separate role of the optical and exciton resonances. Amplified signals and phonon spectra modified by the optical confinement are demonstrated.

Subterahertz phonon dynamics in acoustic nanocavities.

We report a direct determination of the dynamic behavior of confined acoustic phonons in nanocavities by picosecond acoustics. We provide the broadband, high resolution transmission amplitude curve in the subterahertz range, and we give evidence of resonant transmission peaks in three successive stop bands, in quantitative agreement with acoustic simulations. We furthermore demonstrate transit times in the nanosecond range at the cavity peaks reflecting the strong confinement of resonant phonons within the cavity layer. On the other hand, picosecond transit times are measured in the stop band, shorter than in any of the constituting materials, a tunneling effect well known both in photonic crystals and in macroscopic phononic systems.

Spin excitations of the spin-polarized electron gas in semimagnetic quantum wells.

Collective and single-particle spin-flip excitations of a two-dimensional electron gas in a semimagnetic Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te quantum well are observed by resonant Raman scattering. Application of a magnetic field splits the spin subbands and a spin polarization is induced in the electron gas. Above 1 T the collective modes, which disperse with the in-plane wave vector, dominate the spectra. The local spin-density approximation provides a good description of our results and enables us to confirm that the energy of the low wave vector collective mode is given by the bare Zeeman energy.

Confinement of acoustical vibrations in a semiconductor planar phonon cavity.

Extending the idea of optical microcavities to sound waves, we propose a phonon cavity consisting of two semiconductor superlattices enclosing a spacer layer. We show that acoustical phonons can be confined in such layered structures when the spacer thickness is an integer multiple of the acoustic half-wavelength at the center of one of the superlattice folded minigaps. We report Raman scattering experiments that, taking profit of an optical microcavity geometry, demonstrate unambiguously the observation of a phonon-cavity confined acoustical vibration in a GaAs/AlAs based structure. The experimental results compare precisely with photoelastic model calculations of the Raman spectra.

Standing optical phonons in finite semiconductor superlattices studied by resonant Raman scattering in a double microcavity.

We report optical double resonant enhancement of Raman scattering in a new double microcavity geometry. The design allows almost backscattering geometries, providing easy access to the excitations' in-plane dispersion. The cavity is used to study the phonon spectra of a finite GaAs/AlAs superlattice. A new type of "standing optical vibration" is demonstrated involving the GaAs confined phonons with a standing wave envelope determined by the superlattice thickness. A strong dispersion of the first order standing wave mode is observed, as well as its anticrossing with higher order confined modes of the same symmetry.

Resonant mechanisms of inelastic light scattering by low-dimensional electron gases.

The contribution of elementary excitations in low-dimensional electron gases to resonant inelastic light scattering is found to be determined by interband transitions involving states at specific wave vectors. In modulation-doped GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells, we detect only the single-particle excitations (SPE) at resonances with electron-hole transitions at the Fermi wave vector, and only plasmons at resonances with zone-center excitons. The plasmon cross section is comparable to the SPE when double electronic resonance is achieved by tuning the plasmon energy to a valence subband separation.