On-chip optical transduction scheme for graphene nano-electro-mechanical systems in silicon-photonic platform

We present a scheme for on-chip optical transduction of strain and displacement of graphene-based nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS). A detailed numerical study on the feasibility of three silicon-photonic integrated circuit configurations is presented: the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), the micro-ring resonator, and the ring-loaded MZI. An index sensing based technique using an MZI loaded with a ring resonator with a moderate Q-factor of 2400 can yield a sensitivity of 28  fm/Hz and 6.5×10^-6%/Hz for displacement and strain, respectively. Though any phase-sensitive integrated-photonic device could be used for optical transduction, here we show that optimal sensitivity is achievable by combining resonance with phase sensitivity.