Design of Mechanically Compliant Membrane Reflectors for Giant Optical Phase Nonlinearity
Abstract
Optical nonlinearities arise when the response of a photonic system depends on light intensity. Radiation pressure can create such a nonlinearity by moving a mechanically compliant reflector, thereby shifting the phase of the reflected light. Based on measured properties, we predict a giant phase responsivity of 263 rad W−1 and a device-equivalent n2,eff = 5.4 × 10−7 m2 W−1 for a silicon nitride membrane trampoline with serpentine springs. We introduce strength-range-aperture metrics for reflective phase elements. Among reported mechanical resonators compared under a common direct-reflection protocol, this trampoline is an outlier, combining high compliance, practical optical accessibility, and 99.85% retention of its small-signal phase responsivity through a full 2π reflected-phase shift. Practical implementation requires optical and thermal co-design. Our framework indicates design priorities for future mechano-optical phase elements.
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BibTeX
@misc{michaeli2026design,
title = {{Design of Mechanically Compliant Membrane Reflectors for Giant Optical Phase Nonlinearity}},
author = {Lior Michaeli and Harry A. Atwater},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.40354},
eprint = {2609.40354},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40354},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Design of Mechanically Compliant Membrane Reflectors for Giant Optical Phase Nonlinearity
AU - Lior Michaeli
AU - Harry A. Atwater
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.40354
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40354
AB - Optical nonlinearities arise when the response of a photonic system depends on light intensity. Radiation pressure can create such a nonlinearity by moving a mechanically compliant reflector, thereby shifting the phase of the reflected light. Based on measured properties, we predict a giant phase responsivity of 263 rad W^−1 and a device-equivalent n_2,eff = 5.4 × 10^−7 m^2 W^−1 for a silicon nitride membrane trampoline with serpentine springs. We introduce strength-range-aperture metrics for reflective phase elements. Among reported mechanical resonators compared under a common direct-reflection protocol, this trampoline is an outlier, combining high compliance, practical optical accessibility, and 99.85% retention of its small-signal phase responsivity through a full 2π reflected-phase shift. Practical implementation requires optical and thermal co-design. Our framework indicates design priorities for future mechano-optical phase elements.
ER -