Laser Locking and Cavity Manipulation With a Cavity Optoelectromechanical System

Cavity optoelectromechanical systems combine the benefits of ultrasensitive motion transduction and strong mechanical actuation. We demonstrate the potential for photonic applications, implementing a Pound-Drever-Hall laser locking technique and strongly driving another mechanical mode, while remaining locked. The mechanical modes are resonantly excited in a silica microtoroid with a radio-frequency electric field, with the optomechanical coupling then imprinting a modulation on the circulating light and consequently the out-coupled light.