Coherently refreshing hypersonic phonons for light storage

Stiller B, Merklein M, Wolff C, Vu K, Ma P, Madden SJ, Eggleton BJ (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Optica Optical Society of America

Book Volume: 7

Pages Range: 492-497

Journal Issue: 5

DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.386535

Abstract

Acoustic waves can serve as memory for optical information; however, propagating acoustic phonons in the gigahertz (GHz) regime decay on the nanosecond time scale. Usually this is dominated by intrinsic acoustic loss due to inelastic scattering of the acoustic waves and thermal phonons. Here we show a way to counteract the intrinsic acoustic decay of the phonons in a waveguide by resonantly reinforcing the acoustic wave via synchronized optical pulses. We experimentally demonstrate coherent on-chip storage in amplitude and phase up to 40 ns, 4 times the intrinsic acoustic lifetime in the waveguide. Through theoretical considerations, we anticipate that this concept allows for storage times up to microseconds within realistic experimental limitations while maintaining a GHz bandwidth of the optical signal.

Authors with CRIS profile

Birgit Stiller

Involved external institutions

University of Sydney (USYD) AU Australia (AU) University of Southern Denmark / Syddansk Universitet DK Denmark (DK) Australian National University (ANU) AU Australia (AU)

How to cite

APA:

Stiller, B., Merklein, M., Wolff, C., Vu, K., Ma, P., Madden, S.J., & Eggleton, B.J. (2020). Coherently refreshing hypersonic phonons for light storage. Optica, 7(5), 492-497. https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.386535

MLA:

Stiller, Birgit, et al. "Coherently refreshing hypersonic phonons for light storage." Optica 7.5 (2020): 492-497.

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