Continuous-wave frequency upconversion with a molecular optomechanical nanocavity Articles uri icon

authors

  • CHEN, WEN
  • ROELLI, PHILIPPE
  • HU, HUATIAN
  • VERLEKAR, SACHIN
  • AMIRTHARAJ, SAKTHI PRIYA
  • BARREDA GOMEZ, ANGELA INMACULADA
  • KIPPENBERG, TOBIAS J.
  • KOVYLINA, MIROSLAVNA
  • Verhagen, Ewold
  • Martínez, Alejandro
  • Galland, Christophe

publication date

  • December 2021

start page

  • 1264

end page

  • 1267

issue

  • 6572

volume

  • 374

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0036-8075

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1095-9203

abstract

  • Coherent upconversion of terahertz and mid-infrared signals into visible light opens new horizons for
    spectroscopy, imaging, and sensing but represents a challenge for conventional nonlinear optics. Here,
    we used a plasmonic nanocavity hosting a few hundred molecules to demonstrate optomechanical
    transduction of submicrowatt continuous-wave signals from the mid-infrared (32 terahertz) onto the
    visible domain at ambient conditions. The incoming field resonantly drives a collective molecular
    vibration, which imprints a coherent modulation on a visible pump laser and results in upconverted
    Raman sidebands with subnatural linewidth. Our dual-band nanocavity offers an estimated 13 orders of
    magnitude enhancement in upconversion efficiency per molecule. Our results demonstrate that
    molecular cavity optomechanics is a flexible paradigm for frequency conversion leveraging tailorable
    molecular and plasmonic properties.

subjects

  • Electronics
  • Optics

keywords

  • spectroscopy; optomechanical transduction; molecular cavity optomechanics; molecular and plasmonic propertie