Wide-band idler generation in a GaAs electromechanical resonator

Periodically modulating the piezoelectrically introduced strain in an electromechanical resonator can enable the fundamental (ω₀) and the first modes (ω₁) to be coupled. This is explicitly demonstrated with the creation of a mechanical idler at ω₁ (ω₀) when a signal excitation is applied at ω₀ (ω₁) and a pump excitation is applied at ω₀+ω₁. 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.