Dr. Gaurav Bahl
Optics and Photonics Laboratory, University of Michigan
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
May 8, 2012 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room
Host: Ali Javey
In a manner similar to the forces that we feel as a car goes around a curve, light is also known to apply centrifugal force when guided along a circular path. In recent years, whispering gallery microdevices have emerged that exploit optical forces like centrifugal radiation pressure to excite mechanical vibration. These "Photonic MEMS" are promising candidates for compact frequency reference oscillators, for experiments in nonlinear optics and thermodynamics, and also for various sensor applications. My work focuses on a new type of optomechanical oscillator that uses the electrostrictive force exerted by light, in conjunction with Brillouin scattering, to generate resonant surface acoustic waves in microspheres (Nature Communications, 2:403, 2011). What makes these oscillators exciting is that a single device can be used to generate mechanical frequencies ranging from 50 MHz up to nearly 12 GHz by simply tuning the color of input light. I will describe the physical principles by which these "Brillouin MEMS" operate and some of our explorations in mechanics and microfluidics with this technology.
www-personal.umich.edu/~bahlg
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