Quasinormal-mode theory of elastic Purcell factors and Fano resonances of optomechanical beams

Abstract

We introduce a quasinormal-mode theory of mechanical open-cavity modes for optomechanical resonators, and demonstrate the importance of using a complex effective mode volume and the phase of the quasinormal mode. We first generalize and fix the normal-mode theories of the elastic Purcell factor, and then show a striking example of coupled quasinormal modes yielding a pronounced Fano resonance. Our theory is exemplified and confirmed by full three-dimensional calculations of optomechanical beams, but the general findings apply to a wide range of mechanical cavity modes. This quasinormal mechanical mode formalism, when also coupled with a quasinormal theory of optical cavities, offers a unified framework for describing a wide range of optomechanical structures where dissipation is an inherent part of the resonator modes.