Nanometer-scale photon confinement in topology-optimized dielectric cavities
M. Albrechtsen, B. V. Lahijani, R. E. Christiansen, V. T. H. Nguyen, L. N. Casses, S. E. Hansen, N. Stenger, O. Sigmund, H. Jansen, J. Mørk and S. Stobbe
Nature Communications 13, 6281 (2022)
Nanotechnology enables in principle a precise mapping from design to device but relied so far on human intuition and simple optimizations. In nanophotonics, a central question is how to make devices in which the light-matter interaction strength is limited only by materials and nanofabrication. Here, we integrate measured fabrication constraints into topology optimization, aiming for the strongest possible light-matter interaction in a compact silicon membrane, demonstrating an unprecedented photonic nanocavity with a mode volume of V ~ 3 × 10−4 λ3, quality factor Q ~ 1100, and footprint 4 λ2 for telecom photons with a λ ~ 1550 nm wavelength. We fabricate the cavity, which confines photons inside 8 nm silicon bridges with ultra-high aspect ratios of 30 and use near-field optical measurements to perform the first experimental demonstration of photon confinement to a single hotspot well below the diffraction limit in dielectrics. Our framework intertwines topology optimization with fabrication and thereby initiates a new paradigm of high-performance additive and subtractive manufacturing.