APPARATUS FOR MEASURING GRAVITATIONAL FORCE AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME

1 . An apparatus for measuring gravitational force comprising:

at least one optomechanical oscillator, the at least one optomechanical oscillator having an initial resonance, and a second resonance when displaced by gravitational force; and

at least one photonic crystal having at least one cavity coupling optical and mechanical degrees of freedom of the oscillator.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one radiation source arrangement to direct at least one first radiation towards the at least one optomechanical oscillator.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising at least one detecting arrangement to at least one of receive or detect at least one second radiation from the at least one at least one optomechanical oscillator.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising at least one hardware processing arrangement to determine the shift in the resonance associated with the at least one optomechanical oscillator based on the first and second radiations.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one hardware processing arrangement is further to determine the gravitational force based on the shift in the resonance.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optomechanical cavity includes at least one slot, and wherein the shift is a function of a width of the at least one slot.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one optomechanical cavity includes a high Q/V air-slot photonic crystal mode gap cavity

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is on the scale of less than 5 millimeters.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a mass suspended by one or more tethers, wherein the mass is less than 1000 ng.

10 . A method for measuring gravitational force or field, comprising:

providing at least one first radiation to at least one optomechanical oscillator, the at least one optomechanical oscillator having an initial resonance, and a second resonance when displace by gravitational force;

receiving at least one second radiation from the at least one optomechanical oscillator, wherein the at least one second radiation is associated with the second resonance; and

determining a shift in the resonance of the optomechanical oscillator based on the first and second radiations; and

determining a gravitational force or field.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing the optomechanical oscillator having at least one optomechanical cavity including at least one slot, and wherein the shift is a function of a width of the at least one slot.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising providing the at least one optomechanical cavity with a high Q/V air-slot photonic crystal mode gap cavity.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable medium for determining a shift in a resonance associated with at least one optomechanical oscillator including instructions thereon that are accessible by a hardware processing arrangement, wherein, when the processing arrangement executes the instructions, the processing arrangement is configured to perform at least one procedure comprising:

directing at least one first radiation to the at least one optomechanical oscillator which is structured to deform under a gravitational force so as to cause a shift in a resonance associated with the at least one optomechanical oscillator.