Adaptive meshing strategies for nanophotonics using a posteriori error estimation.

As nanophotonic devices become increasingly complex, computer simulations of such devices are becoming ever more important. Unfortunately, computer simulations of nanophotonic devices are computationally expensive, especially if many simulations are necessary, e.g.

Integrated microcavity optomechanics with a suspended photonic crystal mirror above a distributed Bragg reflector.

Increasing the interaction between light and mechanical resonators is an ongoing endeavor in the field of cavity optomechanics. Optical microcavities allow for boosting the interaction strength through their strong spatial confinement of the optical field. In this work, we follow this approach by realizing a sub-wavelength-long, free-space optomechanical microcavity on-chip fabricated from an (Al,Ga)As heterostructure.

A Gaussian reflective metasurface for advanced wavefront manipulation.

Metasurfaces enable us to control the fundamental properties of light with unprecedented flexibility. However, most metasurfaces realized to date aim at modifying plane waves. While the manipulation of nonplanar wavefronts is encountered in a diverse number of applications, their control using metasurfaces is still in its infancy.

Do Optomechanical Metasurfaces Run Out of Time?

Artificially structured metasurfaces make use of specific configurations of subwavelength resonators to efficiently manipulate electromagnetic waves. Additionally, optomechanical metasurfaces have the desired property that their actual configuration may be tuned by adjusting the power of a pump beam, as resonators move to balance pump-induced electromagnetic forces with forces due to elastic filaments or substrates. Although the reconfiguration time of optomechanical metasurfaces crucially determines their performance, the transient dynamics of unit cells from one equilibrium state to another is not understood.

Optical Force Enhancement Using an Imaginary Vector Potential for Photons.

The enhancement of optical forces has enabled a variety of technological applications that rely on the optical control of small objects and devices. Unfortunately, optical forces are still too small for the convenient actuation of integrated switches and waveguide couplers. Here we show how the optical gradient force can be enhanced by an order of magnitude by making use of gauge materials inside two evanescently coupled waveguides.