title: Dynamic control of the Q factor in a photonic crystal nanocavity.
abstract: High-quality (Q) factor photonic-crystal nanocavities are currently the focus of much interest because they can strongly confine photons in a tiny space. Nanocavities with ultrahigh Q factors of up to 2,000,000 and modal volumes of a cubic wavelength have been realized. If the Q factor could be dynamically controlled within the lifetime of a photon, significant advances would be expected in areas of physics and engineering such as the slowing and/or stopping of light and quantum-information processing. For these applications, the transfer, storage and exchange of photons in nanocavity systems on such a timescale are highly desirable. Here, we present the first demonstration of dynamic control of the Q factor, by constructing a system composed of a nanocavity, a waveguide with nonlinear optical response and a photonic-crystal hetero-interface mirror. The Q factor of the nanocavity was successfully changed from approximately 3,000 to approximately 12,000 within picoseconds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Upham
authors.forename: Takushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiya
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noda