Chen Lei, Huang Junhua, Liu Gui-Shi, Huang Feifan, Zheng Huajian, Chen Yaofei, Luo Yunhan, Chen Zhe
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Nanophotonics. 2022 Jan 26;11(5):957-966. doi: 10.1515/nanoph-2021-0596. eCollection 2022 Feb.
The Vernier effect and harmonic Vernier effect have attracted ever-increasing interest due to their freely tailored spectrum envelope in tunable laser, modulator, and precision sensing. Most explorations have mainly focused on configuring two isolated optical resonators, namely the reference and tunable resonator. However, this configuration requires a stable reference resonator to guarantee robust readout, posing a significant challenge in applications. Here, we discover the coupled-resonators configuration enabling a reference-free envelope modulation to address this problem. Specifically, all parameters of one resonator theoretically span a hypersurface. When the resonator couples to another one, photon coupling merit an escaped solution from the hypersurface, resulting in an envelope modulation independent of reference. We have first experimentally verified this mechanism in a coupled air resonator and polydimethylsiloxane resonator by inserting a semi-transparent 2-mercaptobenzimidazole-modified silver nanowire network. In addition, this novel mechanism provides a new degree of freedom in the reciprocal space, suggesting alternative multiplexing to combine more envelope modulations simultaneously. This study facilitates the fundamental research in envelope multiplexing. More importantly, the combination of silver nanowire network and flexible microcavity experimentally progress the spectral envelope modulation in optoelectronic integration inside resonators.
游标效应和谐波游标效应因其在可调谐激光器、调制器和精密传感中可自由定制的光谱包络而受到越来越多的关注。大多数研究主要集中在配置两个独立的光学谐振器，即参考谐振器和可调谐谐振器。然而，这种配置需要一个稳定的参考谐振器来保证可靠的读出，这在应用中构成了重大挑战。在此，我们发现了一种耦合谐振器配置，能够实现无参考的包络调制来解决这一问题。具体而言，一个谐振器的所有参数理论上跨越一个超曲面。当该谐振器与另一个谐振器耦合时，光子耦合使得能够从超曲面中找到一个逃逸解，从而产生与参考无关的包络调制。我们首先通过插入半透明的2-巯基苯并咪唑修饰的银纳米线网络，在耦合空气谐振器和聚二甲基硅氧烷谐振器中对这一机制进行了实验验证。此外，这种新机制在倒易空间中提供了一个新的自由度，暗示了可同时组合更多包络调制的替代复用方式。这项研究促进了包络复用的基础研究。更重要的是，银纳米线网络与柔性微腔的结合在实验上推动了谐振器内部光电集成中的光谱包络调制。
