Wide-band idler generation in a GaAs electromechanical resonator

Abstract

Periodically modulating the piezoelectrically introduced strain in an electromechanical resonator can enable the fundamental (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$) and the first modes (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}$) to be coupled. This is explicitly demonstrated with the creation of a mechanical idler at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}$ (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$) when a signal excitation is applied at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}$) and a pump excitation is applied at ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}+{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}$. The dynamics of the mechanical idler generation are captured by a simple phenomenological model and our experimental demonstration paves the way toward accessing the diverse functionality of nonlinear optics in an on-chip electromechanical platform.