Direct laser-written optomechanical double membranes in an optical microcavity

Abstract

Optomechanical membrane-in-the-middle systems that comprise several coupled compliant membranes offer enhanced optomechanical coupling and collective dynamics. Recent realizations were fundamentally restricted to two membranes and to limited structural optimization of the involved membranes due to their intricate fabrication and experimental integration. Here, we present a fiber-based Fabry-Perot microcavity incorporating monolithically integrated double-membrane resonators fabricated by 3D direct laser writing. We realize controllable mechanical mode hybridization of membranes with coupling rates of up to $J_{\mathrm{mech}}/2π= 0.16$ MHz, exceeding the mechanical linewidths. We demonstrate enhanced collective optomechanical coupling of the membrane stack's breathing mode, reaching collective coupling strengths of up to $g_{\mathrm{col}}^{(-)}/2π\approx 0.1$ MHz. Our transfer-matrix calculations predict further substantial enhancements with realistic reductions of membrane thickness and spacing, and a larger number of membranes. Our results establish direct laser-written membrane arrays as a scalable platform for multimode cavity optomechanics, combining tunable mechanical interactions, enhanced collective optomechanical coupling, and scalability towards larger mechanically coupled resonator systems.