GHz aluminum nitride optomechanical wheel resonators

Aluminum nitride (AlN) has been widely used in microeletromechanical resonators for its excellent electromechanical properties. Here we demonstrate the use of AlN as an optomechanical material that simultaneously offers low optical and mechanical loss. Integrated AlN microring resonators in the shape of suspended rings exhibit high optical quality factor (Q) with loaded Q up to 125,000. Optomechanical transduction of the Brownian motion of a GHz contour mode yields a displacement sensitivity of 6.3×10
⁻¹⁸
m/√Hz in ambient air.