Active Tuning of Hybridized Modes in a Heterogeneous Photonic Molecule

Abstract

From fundamental discovery to practical application, advances in the optical and quantum sciences rely upon precise control of light-matter interactions. Systems of coupled optical cavities are ubiquitous in these efforts, yet the design and active modification of the hybridized mode properties remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate the design, fabrication, and analysis of a tunable heterogeneous photonic molecule consisting of a ring resonator strongly coupled to a nanobeam photonic crystal cavity. Leveraging the disparity in mode volume between these two strongly coupled cavities, we combine theory and experiment to establish the ability to actively tune the mode volume of the resulting supermodes over a full order of magnitude. As the mode volume determines the strength of light-matter interactions, this work illustrates the potential for strongly coupled cavities with dissimilar mode volumes in applications requiring designer photonic properties and tunable light-matter coupling, such as photonics-based quantum simulation.