Bridging Mid- and Near-Infrared by Combining Optomechanics and Self-Mixing

Year: 2026

Authors: Gabbrielli T., Zhang C.H., Cappelli F., Galli I., Ottomaniello A., Faist J., Tredicucci A., Pitanti A., De Natale P., Borri S., Vezio P.

Autors Affiliation: CNR INO, Ist Nazl Ottica, I-50019 Florence, Italy; LENS European Lab Nonlinear Spect, I-50019 Florence, Italy; Ist Italiano Tecnol, Ctr Mat Interfaces, I-56025 Pisa, Italy; Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Inst Quantum Elect, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland; Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Fis, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; CNR, Ist Nanosci, Lab NEST, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Univ Firenze, Dipartimento Fis & Astron, I-50019 Florence, Italy.

Abstract: This work describes a self-mixing-assisted optomechanical platform for transferring information between near- and mid-infrared radiation. In particular, the self-mixing signal of a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser is used to detect the oscillation of a membrane driven by light-induced forces exerted by a near-infrared excitation beam, which is amplitude-modulated at the membrane resonance frequency. This technique benefits from spectral broadness and, therefore, can link different spectral regions from both the excitation and the probe sides. This versatility can pave the way for future applications of this self-mixing-assisted optomechanical platform in free-space communication and advanced sensing systems.

Journal/Review: ACS PHOTONICS

Volume: 13 (4)      Pages from: 1200  to: 1206

More Information: The authors would like to thank Irene La Penna (LENS) for her help in prealigning the 1-mu m laser from the laser output to the AOM, Davide Mazzotti (CNR-INO) for the fruitful conversation about possible perspectives, and Mario Siciliani De Cumis (ASI) and Francesco Marino (CNR-INO) for the useful discussion about thermal effects. The authors acknowledge financial support by the European Union-Next Generation EU with the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.3, CUP D43C22003080001, partnership on Telecommunications of the Future (PE00000001-program RESTART), and the I-PHOQS Infrastructure Integrated infrastructure initiative in Photonic and Quantum Sciences [IR0000016, ID D2B8D520, CUP B53C22001750006]; by the European Union’ s Research and Innovation Programme Horizon Europe with the Laserlab-Europe Project [G.A. n. 871124], and the MUQUABIS Project Multiscale quantum bio-imaging and spectroscopy [G.A. n. 101070546]; by the Italian ESFRI Roadmap (Extreme Light Infrastructure-ELI Project); from ASI and CNR under the Joint Project Laboratori congiunti ASI-CNR nel settore delle Quantum Technologies (QASINO) (Accordo Attuativo n. 2023-47-HH.0); and by the Italian Ministero dell’Universita e della Ricerca (project PRIN-2022KH2KMT QUAQK).
KeyWords: quantum cascade laser; infrared; feedback interferometry; optomechanics; self-mixing; information transduction
DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03062