Aluminum nitride piezo-acousto-photonic crystal nanocavity with high quality factors

Abstract

We develop a piezoelectrically actuated, one-dimensional acoustic and photonic crystal nanocavity fabricated from aluminum nitride (AlN). Through simultaneous band structure engineering in both photonic and acoustic domains, we obtain high-quality piezo-acousto-photonic crystal nanocavities with intrinsic optical Q of 1.2 × 105. The piezoelectric actuation of the confined mechanical mode at 3.18 GHz is demonstrated with mechanical Q exceeding 10 000. Such piezo-acousto-photonic crystal nanocavities will find important applications in cavity optomechanics that desire effective coupling to the electrical degree of freedom.