Silicon Nitride MOMS Oscillator for Room Temperature Quantum Optomechanics

Year: 2018

Authors: Serra E.; Morana B.; Borrielli A.; Marin F.; Pandraud G.; Pontin A.; Prodi G.A.; Sarro P.M.; Bonaldi M.

Autors Affiliation: TIFPA, Ist Nazl Fis Nucl, I-38123 Trento, Italy; Delft Univ Technol, ECTM, EKL, NL-2628 Delft, Netherlands; Inst Mat Elect & Magnetism, Nanosci Trento FBK Div, I-38123 Trento, Italy; Univ Firenze, Dipartimento Fis & Astron, I-50121 Florence, Italy; Univ Firenze, LENS, I-50121 Florence, Italy; INFN, Sez Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy; CNR, INO, I-50125 Florence, Italy; Univ Trento, Dipartimento Fis, I-38123 Trento, Italy.

Abstract: Optomechanical SiN nano-oscillators in high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavities can be used to investigate the interaction between mechanical and optical degree of freedom for ultra-sensitive metrology and fundamental quantum mechanical studies. In this paper, we present a nano-oscillator made of a high-stress round-shaped SiN membrane with an integrated on-chip 3-D acoustic shield properly designed to reduce mechanical losses. This oscillator works in the range of 200 kHz to 5 MHz and features a mechanical quality factor of Q similar or equal to 10(7) and a Q-frequency product in excess of 6.2 x 10(12) Hz at room temperature, fulfilling the minimum requirement for quantum ground-state cooling of the oscillator in an optomechanical cavity. The device is obtained by MEMS deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) bulk micromachining with a two-side silicon processing on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The microfabrication process is quite flexible such that additional layers could be deposited over the SiN membrane before the DRIE steps, if required for a sensing application. Therefore, such oscillator is a promising candidate for quantum sensing applications in the context of the emerging field of quantum technologies.

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Volume: 27 (6)      Pages from: 1193  to: 1203

More Information: This work was supported in part by the QuaSeRT Project under Grant QuantERA ERA-NET, in part by the Quantum Technologies through the European Union´s Horizon 2020 Programme, and in part by the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare under the HUMOR Project. Subject Editor S. Merlo. (Corresponding author: Enrico Serra).
KeyWords: MOMS oscillator; quantum optomechanics; SiN thin membrane; reactive ion etching;
DOI: 10.1109/JMEMS.2018.2876593

Citations: 11
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