Cancelation of thermally induced frequency shifts in bimaterial cantilevers by nonlinear optomechanical interactions

Abstract

Bimaterial cantilevers have recently been used in, for example, the calorimetric analysis with picowatt resolution in microscopic space based on state-of-the-art atomic force microscopes. However, thermally induced effects usually change physical properties of the cantilevers, such as the resonance frequency, which reduce the accuracy of the measurements. Here, we propose an approach to circumvent this problem that uses an optical microcavity formed between a metallic layer coated on the back of the cantilever and one coated at the end of an optical fiber irradiating the cantilever. In addition to increasing the sensitivity, the optical rigidity of this system diminishes the thermally induced frequency shift. For a coating thickness of several tens of nanometers, the input power is 5–10 μW. These values can be evaluated from parameters derived by directly irradiating the cantilever in the absence of the microcavity. The system has the potential of using the cantilever both as a thermometer without frequency shifting and as a sensor with nanometer-controlled accuracy.