Enhancement of acousto-optical coupling in two-dimensional air-slot phoxonic crystal cavities by utilizing surface acoustic waves

A phoxonic crystal is a periodically patterned material that can simultaneously localize optical and acoustic modes. The acousto-optical coupling in two-dimensional air-slot phoxonic crystal cavities is investigated numerically. The photons can be well confined in the slot owing to the large electric field discontinuity at the air/dielectric interfaces. Besides, the surface acoustic modes lead to the localization of the phonons near the air-slot. The high overlap of the photonic and phononic cavity modes near the slot results in a significant enhancement of the moving interface effect, and thus strengthens the total acousto-optical interaction. The results of two cavities with different slot widths show that the coupling strength is dependent on the slot width. It is expected to achieve a strong acousto-optical/optomechanical coupling in air-slot phoxonic crystal structures by utilizing surface acoustic modes.