Integrated Optomechanical Displacement Sensor Based on a Photonic Crystal Cavity

Displacement sensing at the nanoscale is required in many applications, including accelerometry, mass sensing and atomic force microscopy. Miniaturization of the sensing elements and integration of the read-out is key in achieving low cost, high resolution and high speed. Here, we present a novel integrated nano-opto-electro-mechanical device which potentially has subnanometer resolution for displacement sensing. The proposed device is a waveguide-coupled, micron-sized, double membrane photonic crystal cavity with integrated electro-optical read-out on a single chip.