Phononic molecules studied by Raman spectroscopy

N. D. LANZILLOTTI-KIMURA, A. FAINSTEIN, B. JUSSERAND, AND A. LEMAÎTRE

Conferencia; 29th International Conference on Physics of Semiconductors; 2008

An acoustic nanocavity can confine phonons in such a way that they act like electrons in an atom. By combining two of these phononic-atoms, it is possible to form a phononic "molecule", with acoustic modes that are similar to the electronic states in a hydrogen molecule. We report Raman scattering experiments performed in a monolithic structure formed by a phononic molecule embedded in an optical cavity. The acoustic mode splitting becomes evident through both the amplification and change of selection rules induced by the optical cavity confinement. The results are in perfect agreement with photoelastic model simulations.