Ever been to a whispering gallery—a quiet, circular space
underneath an old cathedral dome that captures and amplifies sounds as quiet as
a whisper? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are
applying similar principles in the development optomechanical sensors that will
help unlock vibrational secrets of chemical and biological samples at the
nanoscale.
“Optomechanics is an area of research in which extremely
minute forces exerted by light (for example: radiation pressure, gradient
force, electrostriction) are used to generate and control high-frequency
mechanical vibrations of microscale and nanoscale devices,” explained Gaurav
Bahl, an assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at Illinois.