“Smart” Nanophotonic Elements and All-Optical Feedback Control Through Optical Forces and Potentials

We describe recently proposed light-powered nanomachines and all-optical self-adaptive optomechanical circuits that rely on the interplay of resonantly-enhanced optical forces and the manipulation of optical resonances by mechanical degrees of freedom in nanophotonic structures [1]. This new class of devices facilitates resonantly tailored optomechanical potentials, enabling positional control of cantilevers with picometer precision and alloptically self-aligning microcavities that track the wavelength of an incident laser. These device concepts are examples of all-optical (optomechanical) feedback control that may be used to provide robustness and scalability in strong-confinement nanophotonic circuits that traditionally have extreme sensitivities.