FIG. 1.

Zipper photonic crystal optomechanical cavity. (a) Scheme of a zipper cavity. Such a cavity is a mechanical resonator and a photonic crystal cavity at the same time. The air holes are chirped and form an optical potential well to confine optical modes around the center. (b) Light confined in the optical modes exerts forces on the two nanobeams. For bonded modes, where top and bottom fields are in phase, the force is attractive. The field profile is plotted in color for fundamental transverse-electric bonded mode, simulated by finite-element methods (FEMs), in the cross section indicated by the vertical dashed line in (a). (c) A scheme shows that mechanical force is generated when one nanobeam is deformed from its stationary position, e.g., indicated by the lateral dashed line in (a).