title: Dynamic acousto-optic control of a strongly coupled photonic molecule.
abstract: Strongly confined photonic modes can couple to quantum emitters and mechanical excitations. To harness the full potential in quantum photonic circuits, interactions between different constituents have to be precisely and dynamically controlled. Here, a prototypical coupled element, a photonic molecule defined in a photonic crystal membrane, is controlled by a radio frequency surface acoustic wave. The sound wave is tailored to deliberately switch on and off the bond of the photonic molecule on sub-nanosecond timescales. In time-resolved experiments, the acousto-optically controllable coupling is directly observed as clear anticrossings between the two nanophotonic modes. The coupling strength is determined directly from the experimental data. Both the time dependence of the tuning and the inter-cavity coupling strength are found to be in excellent agreement with numerical calculations. The demonstrated mechanical technique can be directly applied for dynamic quantum gate operations in state-of-the-art-coupled nanophotonic, quantum cavity electrodynamic and optomechanical systems.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik 1 and Augsburg Centre for Innovative Technologies (ACIT), Universität Augsburg, Universitätsstrasse 1, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapfinger
authors.affiliation: Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reichert
authors.affiliation: Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lichtmannecker
authors.affiliation: Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.|E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3036-529X
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Finley
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik 1 and Augsburg Centre for Innovative Technologies (ACIT), Universität Augsburg, Universitätsstrasse 1, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wixforth
authors.affiliation: Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaniber
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik 1 and Augsburg Centre for Innovative Technologies (ACIT), Universität Augsburg, Universitätsstrasse 1, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.|Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Hubert J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0696-456X
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Krenner