Modeling acoustic vortices and their interaction with quantum and optical systems
Overview
The goal of this work is to better understand how helical acoustic fields, swirling vibrations, can be used to manipulate the orbital angular momentum of light (OAM). This control opens a path to using light for reconfigurable classical and quantum photonic circuits. Two challenges are the precise generation of acoustic vortices with a tunable number of twists, and coupling them efficiently to a light source without adding loss or unwanted noise. This project builds directly on recent experimental demonstrations of integrated acousto-optic modulators and on-chip surface acoustic vortices. I will create finite element models of acousto-optic systems using Comsol Multiphysics on the Bowdoin High Performance Computing cluster. Two strong candidates for investigation are phase-controlled piezoelectric transducers formed from zinc oxide films on a sapphire substrate and systems that integrate GaN optical waveguides on sapphire substrates. This work will provide a better understanding of how to design such systems and quantify their interactions.