Information for “ A picogram and nanometer scale photonic crystal opto - mechanical cavity ”

These set of notes describe cavity optomechanics in the presence of additional thermo-optic tuning of the cavity resonance. We find that thermo-optic tuning results in correction factors to both the optical spring and optomechanical gain. In addition there is an overall saturation of the optomechanical coupling. These effects can be large for systems with large static thermo-optic tuning and fast thermal decay relative to the mechanical frequency (i.e., small heat capacity). Analysis of the zipper optomechanical cavity indicates that optical damping can be realized with blue detuned light, in direct opposition to the bare optomechanical effect. Several, supporting measurements/calculations are also presented, including estimates of the quantum back-action noise and thermo-mechanical effects, both found to be negligible on the scale of the measured properties of the zipper cavity system, and measurement of the zipper cavity mechanical Q-factor in vacuum (QM,vac > 104). Finally, methods and parameters used in fitting a steady-state nonlinear optical model, including the gradient optical force and thermo-optic tuning, to the measured zipper optomechanical cavity response are provided at the end of the notes.