Tailoring optical forces in waveguides through radiation pressure and electrostriction

Abstract

Radiation pressure is known to scale to large values in the context of micro and nano-scale photonic waveguide systems. However, little has been done to address electrostrictively induced forces, which also scale quadratically with electric field. In this paper, we perform detailed analysis of both radiation pressure and electrostricitve optical forces generated in high-index contrast optical waveguides. Through analysis of the material- and geometry-dependent design degrees of freedom associated with the electrostrictive and radiation pressure induced forces, we show that the magnitude and distribution of such forces can be tailored at the various boundaries of the waveguide system.