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Title: Ultralow-threshold thin-film lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator

Materials with strong second-order (χ<#comment/>(2)) optical nonlinearity, especially lithium niobate, play a critical role in building optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). However, chip-scale integration of low-lossχ<#comment/>(2)materials remains challenging and limits the threshold power of on-chipχ<#comment/>(2)OPO. Here we report an on-chip lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator at the telecom wavelengths using a quasi-phase-matched, high-quality microring resonator, whose threshold power (∼<#comment/>30µ<#comment/>W) is 400 times lower than that in previousχ<#comment/>(2)integrated photonics platforms. An on-chip power conversion efficiency of 11% is obtained from pump to signal and idler fields at a pump power of 93 µW. The OPO wavelength tuning is achieved by varying the pump frequency and chip temperature. With the lowest power threshold among all on-chip OPOs demonstrated so far, as well as advantages including high conversion efficiency, flexibility in quasi-phase-matching, and device scalability, the thin-film lithium niobate OPO opens new opportunities for chip-based tunable classical and quantum light sources and provides a potential platform for realizing photonic neural networks.

 
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Award ID(s):
1640959
NSF-PAR ID:
10373214
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Optical Society of America
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Optica
Volume:
8
Issue:
4
ISSN:
2334-2536
Page Range / eLocation ID:
Article No. 539
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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