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  • Perspective
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Nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems

Nature Nanotechnology volume 13, pages 11–18 (2018)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 05 February 2018

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Abstract

A new class of hybrid systems that couple optical, electrical and mechanical degrees of freedom in nanoscale devices is under development in laboratories worldwide. These nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems (NOEMS) offer unprecedented opportunities to control the flow of light in nanophotonic structures, at high speed and low power consumption. Drawing on conceptual and technological advances from the field of optomechanics, they also bear the potential for highly efficient, low-noise transducers between microwave and optical signals, in both the classical and the quantum domains. This Perspective discusses the fundamental physical limits of NOEMS, reviews the recent progress in their implementation and suggests potential avenues for further developments in this field.

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Fig. 1: Physics of nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems.
Fig. 2: Examples of NOEMS applications.
Fig. 3: Opto-electro-mechanical signal transducers.

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Change history

  • 05 February 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, in Fig. 1, in the green box labelled ‘Mechanics’, an erroneous grey rectangle was included; it has now been removed and the figure replaced in the online versions of the Perspective.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Calabretta, M. Cotrufo, R. W. van der Heijden, M. Petruzzella, R. Stabile, K. Williams, Z. Zobenica, E. Verhagen, P. Lodahl, S. Stobbe and K. Srinivasan for discussions. The research leading to these results was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC project Q-CEOM, grant agreement no. 638765, and FET-proactive project HOT, grant agreement no. 732894), a starting grant and a postdoctoral grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research (grant nos. 4002-00060 and 4184-00203), the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, Applied Science Division of NWO, the Technology Program of the Ministry of Economic Affairs under projects nos. 10380 and 12662, and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science under Gravity programme “Research Centre for Integrated Nanophotonics”.

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  1. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Leonardo Midolo & Albert Schliesser

  2. Department of Applied Physics and Institute for Photonic Integration, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Andrea Fiore

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Midolo, L., Schliesser, A. & Fiore, A. Nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems. Nature Nanotech 13, 11–18 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-017-0039-1

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