Acronym : INphO (Integrated Nonlinear Phononic Circuits with Optomechanical Interface)
Abstract :
The primary objective of INPhO is the design, fabrication and validation of densely integrated nonlinear phononic circuits for parametric information processing at gigahertz frequencies equipped with an optomechanical interface.
To this end, we take advantage of a unique experimental hybrid architecture that combines the high operation frequencies of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) and the nonlinear high-quality factor modes of nanomechanical resonators with one of the arguably most advanced optically active nanosystem, i.e. epitaxial semiconductor quantum dots (QDs).
INPhO will thus see through the development of a set of numerical and experimental tools allowing for (i) a thorough investigation of nonlinear mechanical resonators interfaced by SAWs and (ii) for an optimization of their optomechanical coupling to QDs, in view of designing tunable nonlinear phononic circuit elements combined with an integrated optical read-out.
These nonlinear, on-chip photonic-phononic interconnects integrating programmable elements will be harnessed to push the boundaries of nanomechanical parametric logic to the gigahertz domain. INPhO will build on careful engineering of nonlinear mechanical modal interactions to implement parametric control schemes and demonstrate BIT-flipping, as a first proof-of-concept single-bit logic gate.
The final goal of the project lies in the demonstration of the scalability of the proposed architecture through the design and fabrication of multi-resonator phononic circuits. The devices will encompass coupled and programmable nonlinear phononic elements co-integrated with advanced photonic circuitry for opto-mechanical readout. They will illustrate the perspectives opened by the proposed platform to yield mechanical logic-based devices with radiofrequency-to-optical transduction.
Funding Agency: Agence Nationale de la Recherche and DFG (Germany), Programme PRCI.
Partnership: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Hybrid Quantum- and Nanosystems Group (Prof. Hubert Krenner)
Grant or funding obtained: 205 k€
Start and end dates: dec. 2022 - mar. 2026