Semiconductor strain engineering in a driven optomechanical oscillator

The main goal of the project is to give the proof of concept of the use of optomechanical oscillators to induce appreciable amount of strain in semiconductors. The possibility to engineer the strain in semiconductors has the purpose of changing their optical properties for future applications, such as tuning lasers emissions via the modification of the bandstructure. The key concept of this work relies on the connection between classical and quantum phenomena, indeed the strain in the oscillator is controlled through the application of an external potential which has the effect of making the sample oscillate according to the laws of classical mechanics. The result is the ability to tune through an external input the optical properties of the semiconductor, such as the transitions of the photons inside the material and the refractive index. The transduction mechanism that drives the sample is based on the dielectric force experienced by a polarizable material immersed in an inhomogeneous electric field, in fact the sample is fabricated to enable the application of an external signal which makes the beam move toward the maximum of the field due to the generated electric field gradient. In a perfectly symmetric sample the gradient would only be in the out-of-plane direction, anyway since the electrodes are not symmetrically separated due to imperfect fabrication, there is a partial influence of the drive on the in-plane mode.