Caltech Home > PMA Home > Calendar > Applied Physics Seminar
open search form
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Watson 104

Applied Physics Seminar

Nanoscale Cavity Optomechanics for Quantum Optics and Sensing: Diamond, Si and More
Paul Barclay, Assistant Professor and Alberta Innovates Scholar, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary,
Speaker's Bio:
Paul Barclay completed his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology in 2007. At Caltech he worked for Prof. Oskar Painter to create nanophotonic devices for experiments in nonlinear optics. He also collaborated with Prof. Hideo Mabuchi's quantum control and atomic physics group to study light-matter interaction using chip-based photonic devices and atom traps. He was one of Prof. Painter's first two students. In 2008 he joined Hewlett-Packard Labs, in Palo Alto, California, where he worked with Ray Beausoleil and Charles Santori, in Stan Williams' Information and Quantum Systems Lab. At HP Labs, Paul studied the emerging field of diamond based nanophotonics and quantum optics. Paul's undergraduate degree is in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia, where he completed co-op and NSERC undergraduate research terms with Prof. Jeff Young, Prof. Garry Clarke, Nortel Networks, and Ballard Dr. Barclay has made several significant contributions to the field of nanophotonics, by designing, fabricating, and measuring new types of nanoscale optical devices from a wide range of materials. His work is motivated by creating devices which shed light on new areas of physics, in particular the area of quantum information science. Important contributions include the first measurement of nonlinear effects in silicon nanocavities, development of widely adopted fiber probing methods for sub-wavelength photonic devices, and demonstration of some of the first diamond based nanophotonic devices for quantum optics experiments.

By confining light to sub-wavelength volumes, nanophotonic devices enhance light matter interactions and enable a wide range of fundamental and applied studies. Nanophotonic optomechanics experiments probe optical coupling between nanomechanical resonators and photons. Using nanophotonic devices such as microdisk and photonic crystal nanocavities, it is possible to routinely measure thermal motion of nanoscale mechanical resonances. By harnessing the strong photon-phonon interactions within these structures, it is possible to optically manipulate – e.g., heat or cool – nanomechanical resonances.

This talk will focus on recent progress in developing nanophotonic optomechanical devices for sensing and quantum optics applications. We have developed a silicon split-beam photonic crystal nanocavity with record torque sensitivity, gallium phosphide microdisks which support phonon-photon cooperativity exceeding unity, and single crystal diamond nanomechanical resonators whose thermal motion can drive self-oscillations in the presence of an optical field. This talk will discuss prospects for using these devices for sensing and quantum optics applications.

For more information, please contact Michelle Aldecua by phone at (626) 395-3982 or by email at [email protected].