Optomechanical synchronization across multi-octave frequency spans

Experimental exploration of synchronization in scalable oscillator microsystems has unfolded a deeper understanding of networks, collective phenomena, and signal processing. Cavity optomechanical devices have played an important role in this scenario, with the perspective of bridging optical and radio frequencies through nonlinear classical and quantum synchronization concepts. In its simplest form, synchronization occurs when an oscillator is entrained by a signal with frequency nearby the oscillator’s tone, and becomes increasingly challenging as their frequency detuning increases. Here, we experimentally demonstrate entrainment of a silicon-nitride optomechanical oscillator driven up to the fourth harmonic of its 32 MHz fundamental frequency. Exploring this effect, we also experimentally demonstrate a purely optomechanical RF frequency divider, where we performed frequency division up to a 4:1 ratio, i.e., from 128 MHz to 32 MHz. Further developments could harness these effects towards frequency synthesizers, phase-sensitive amplification and nonlinear sensing. Higher order synchronization in optomechanical devices is relatively unexplored. Here the authors use nonlinear parametric effects to entrain an optomechanical oscillator with a drive signal several octaves away from the oscillation frequency, and demonstrate RF frequency division.