Temperature-dependent photo-elastic coefficient of silicon at 1550 nm

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a study on the temperature dependent photo-elastic coefficient in single-crystal silicon with (100) and (110) orientations at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The measurement of the photo-elastic coefficient was performed using a polarimetric scheme across a wide temperature range from 5 to 300 K. The experimental setup employed high-sensitivity techniques and incorporated automatic beam path correction, ensuring precise and accurate determination of the coefficient’s values. The results show excellent agreement with previous measurements at room temperature, specifically yielding a value of $$dn/d\sigma = -2.463 \times 10^{-11}$$ d n / d σ = - 2.463 × 10 - 11 1/Pa for the (100) orientation. Interestingly, there is a significant difference in photo-elasticity between the different crystal orientations of approximately $$50\%$$ 50 % . The photo-elastic coefficient’s absolute value increases by approximately 40% with decreasing temperature down to 5 K. These findings provide valuable insights into the photo-elastic properties of silicon and its behavior under varying mechanical stress, particularly relevant for optomechanical precision experiments like cryogenic gravitational wave detectors and microscale optomechanical quantum sensors.