Self-excited relaxation oscillation in optomechanical ring resonator for sensing applications

This paper demonstrates the optically induced self-excited relaxation oscillation in a silicon ring resonator for the first time. The observed thermo-optomechanical oscillation has a unique waveform with fast oscillation period close to 16 ns and slow oscillation period approximately 167 ns. The ultra-fast oscillation period can be well used in optical switch and optical memory elements. Particularly, the oscillation frequency is very sensitive to the wavelength detuning, making it quite suitable for the sensing applications.