Reconfigurable Microwave Photonic Topological Insulator

Using full 3D finite element simulation and underlining Hamiltonian models, we demonstrate reconfigurable photonic analogues of topological insulators on a regular lattice of tunable posts in a re-entrant 3D lumped element type system. The tunability allows dynamical {\it in-situ} change of media chirality and other properties via alteration of the same parameter for all posts, and as a result, great flexibility in choice of bulk/edge configurations. Additionally, one way photon transport without an external magnetic field is demonstrated. The ideas are illustrated by using both full finite element simulation as well as simplified harmonic oscillator models. Dynamical reconfigurability of the proposed systems paves the way to a new class of systems that can be employed for random access, topological signal processing and sensing

Effects of Geometry on Near Quantum Ground State Behaviour of Phonon-Trapping Acoustic Cavities

This work presents some peculiarities of the near quantum ground state behaviour of curved (phonon trapping) Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) cavities when compared to a conventional mechanical resonator. The curved cavity system resolves the quandary of the conventional mechanical system where the Bose-Einstein distribution requires higher frequencies for lower quantum occupation factors contrary to the constraint of an inverse frequency dependence of the quantum fluctuations of displacement. We demonstrate how the non-trivial cavity geometry can lead to better phonon trapping, enhancing the variance of zero-point-fluctuations of displacement. This variance becomes independent of overtone number (or BAW resonance frequency) overcoming the constraint and allowing better observation of quantum effects in a mechanical system. The piezoelectric electro-mechanical coupling approach is qualitatively compared to the parametric optomechanical technique for the curved BAW cavities. In both cases the detectible quantity grows proportional to the square root of the overtone number, and thus the resonance frequency. Also, the phonon trapping improves with higher overtone numbers, which allows the electrode size to be reduced such that in the optimal case the parasitic capacitive impedance becomes independent of the overtone number, allowing effective coupling to very high frequency overtones.Comment: New J. Phys., 201

Gravitational Wave Detection with High Frequency Phonon Trapping Acoustic Cavities

There are a number of theoretical predictions for astrophysical and cosmological objects, which emit high frequency ($10^6-10^9$~Hz) Gravitation Waves (GW) or contribute somehow to the stochastic high frequency GW background. Here we propose a new sensitive detector in this frequency band, which is based on existing cryogenic ultra-high quality factor quartz Bulk Acoustic Wave cavity technology, coupled to near-quantum-limited SQUID amplifiers at $20$~mK. We show that spectral strain sensitivities reaching $10^{-22}$ per $\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ per mode is possible, which in principle can cover the frequency range with multiple ($>100$) modes with quality factors varying between $10^6-10^{10}$ allowing wide bandwidth detection. Due to its compactness and well established manufacturing process, the system is easily scalable into arrays and distributed networks that can also impact the overall sensitivity and introduce coincidence analysis to ensure no false detections.Comment: appears in Phys. Rev. D, (2014