Ultra-fast dynamic control of the Q factor in a photonic crystal nanocavity

High-quality (Q) factor photonic-crystal nanocavities are currently the focus of much interest because they can strongly confine photons in a tiny space. Nanocavities with ultrahigh Q factors of up to 2,500,000 and modal volumes of a cubic wavelength have been realized. If the Q factor could be dynamically controlled within the lifetime of a photon, significant advances would be expected in areas of physics and engineering such as the slowing and/or stopping of light and quantum-information processing. Here, we review the demonstration of dynamic control of the Q factor, by constructing a system composed of a nanocavity, a waveguide with nonlinear optical response and a photonic-crystal heterointerface mirror. The Q factor of the nanocavity was successfully changed from 3,800 to 22,000 within picoseconds.

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