Precision sensing and imaging in chip-scale cavity optomechanics

In this talk we review fundamental concepts in chip-scale cavity optomechanics, laser cooling and driven oscillator efforts, in the silicon platform compatible with microelectronics. We describe planar-integrated oscillators of large optomechanical transduction, through a photonic crystal slot cavity for deeply-sub-wavelength [≈ 0.1(λ/n)3] electromagnetic localization. Driven with below-mW powers, the optomechanical sensing pixel has dispersive couplings g*/2π up to 783 kHz, large temperature coefficients with 0.44% frequency shift per Kelvin, and distinguishable frequency shifts (ΔΩ_m) for the mechanical oscillator under infrared-radiation at room temperature. We examine thermodynamical and fundamental bounds on the laser-driven oscillator and RF-readout, integrating into higher technology readiness level prototypes.