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1. Optomechanical ring resonator for efficient microwave-optical frequency conversion

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43393-x  

   Chen, I-Tung ; Li, Bingzhao ; Lee, Seokhyeong ; Chakravarthi, Srivatsa ; Fu, Kai-Mei ; Li, Mo ( November 2023 , Nature Communications)

   Phonons traveling in solid-state devices are emerging as a universal excitation for coupling different physical systems. Phonons at microwave frequencies have a similar wavelength to optical photons in solids, enabling optomechanical microwave-optical transduction of classical and quantum signals. It becomes conceivable to build optomechanical integrated circuits (OMIC) that guide both photons and phonons and interconnect photonic and phononic devices. Here, we demonstrate an OMIC including an optomechanical ring resonator (OMR), where  co-resonant infrared photons and GHz phonons induce significantly enhanced interconversion. The platform is hybrid, using wide bandgap semiconductor gallium phosphide (GaP) for waveguiding and piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) for phonon generation. The OMR features photonic and phononic quality factors of >1 × 10⁵and 3.2 × 10³, respectively. The optomechanical interconversion between photonic modes achieved an internal conversion efficiency$${\eta }_{i}=(2.1\pm 0.1)\%$$${\eta }_i=\left(2.1\pm 0.1\right)\%$and a total device efficiency$${\eta }_{{tot}}=0.57{\times 10}^{-6}$$${\eta }_{tot}=0.57{\times 10}^{-6}$at a low acoustic pump power of 1.6 mW. The efficient conversion in OMICs enables microwave-optical transduction for quantum information and microwave photonics applications.

    

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2. Heterogeneous integration of superconducting thin films and epitaxial semiconductor heterostructures with lithium niobate

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/acd7f9  

   Lienhart, Michelle ; Choquer, Michael ; Nysten, Emeline D. S. ; Weiß, Matthias ; Müller, Kai ; Finley, Jonathan J. ; Moody, Galan ; Krenner, Hubert J. ( June 2023 , Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics)

   We report on scalable heterointegration of superconducting electrodes and epitaxial semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) on strong piezoelectric and optically nonlinear lithium niobate. The implemented processes combine the sputter-deposited thin film superconductor niobium nitride and III–V compound semiconductor membranes onto the host substrate. The superconducting thin film is employed as a zero-resistivity electrode material for a surface acoustic wave resonator with internal quality factors$Q\approx 17000$representing a three-fold enhancement compared to identical devices with normal conducting electrodes. Superconducting operation of$\approx 400\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$resonators is achieved to temperatures$T>7\mathrm{K}$and electrical radio frequency powers$P_{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{f}}>+9\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}\mathrm{m}$. Heterogeneously integrated single QDs couple to the resonant phononic field of the surface acoustic wave resonator operated in the superconducting regime. Position and frequency selective coupling mediated by deformation potential coupling is validated using time-integrated and time-resolved optical spectroscopy. Furthermore, acoustoelectric charge state control is achieved in a modified device geometry harnessing large piezoelectric fields inside the resonator. The hybrid QD—surface acoustic wave resonator can be scaled to higher operation frequencies and smaller mode volumes for quantum phase modulation and transduction between photons and phonons via the QD. Finally, the employed materials allow for the realization of other types of optoelectronic devices, including superconducting single photon detectors and integrated photonic and phononic circuits.

    

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3. Low-loss fiber-to-chip interface for lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.44.002314  

   He, Lingyan ; Zhang, Mian ; Shams-Ansari, Amirhassan ; Zhu, Rongrong ; Wang, Cheng ; Marko, Lončar ( April 2019 , Optics Letters)

   Integrated lithium niobate (LN) photonic circuits have recently emerged as a promising candidate for advanced photonic functions such as high-speed modulation, nonlinear frequency conversion, and frequency comb generation. For practical applications, optical interfaces that feature low fiber-to-chip coupling losses are essential. So far, the fiber-to-chip loss (commonly$>10\mathrm{dB}/\text{facet}$) has dominated the total insertion losses of typical LN photonic integrated circuits, where on-chip losses can be as low as 0.03–0.1 dB/cm. Here we experimentally demonstrate a low-loss mode size converter for coupling between a standard lensed fiber and sub-micrometer LN rib waveguides. The coupler consists of two inverse tapers that convert the small optical mode of a rib waveguide into a symmetrically guided mode of a LN nanowire, featuring a larger mode area matched to that of a tapered optical fiber. The measured fiber-to-chip coupling loss is lower than 1.7 dB/facet with high fabrication tolerance and repeatability. Our results open the door for practical integrated LN photonic circuits efficiently interfaced with optical fibers.

    

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4. Hybrid electro-optic modulator combining silicon photonic slot waveguides with high-k radio-frequency slotlines

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.411161  

   Ummethala, Sandeep ; Kemal, Juned N. ; Alam, Ahmed S. ; Lauermann, Matthias ; Kuzmin, Artem ; Kutuvantavida, Yasar ; Nandam, Sree H. ; Hahn, Lothar ; Elder, Delwin L. ; Dalton, Larry R. ; et al ( April 2021 , Optica)

   Electro-optic (EO) modulators rely on the interaction of optical and electrical signals with second-order nonlinear media. For the optical signal, this interaction can be strongly enhanced using dielectric slot–waveguide structures that exploit a field discontinuity at the interface between a high-index waveguide core and the low-index EO cladding. In contrast to this, the electrical signal is usually applied through conductive regions in the direct vicinity of the optical waveguide. To avoid excessive optical loss, the conductivity of these regions is maintained at a moderate level, thus leading to inherentRClimitations of the modulation bandwidth. In this paper, we show that these limitations can be overcome by extending the slot–waveguide concept to the modulating radio-frequency (RF) signal. Our device combines an RF slotline that relies on$\mathrm{B}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{O}}_3$as a high-k dielectric material with a conventional silicon photonic slot waveguide and a highly efficient organic EO cladding material. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate a 1 mm long Mach–Zehnder modulator that offers a 3 dB bandwidth of 76 GHz and a 6 dB bandwidth of 110 GHz along with a small$\mathrm{\pi <\#comment/>}$voltage of 1.3 V ($U_{\mathrm{\pi <\#comment/>}}L=1.3\mathrm{V}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m}$). We further demonstrate the viability of the device in a data-transmission experiment using four-state pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4) at line rates up to 200 Gbit/s. Our first-generation devices leave vast room for further improvement and may open an attractive route towards highly efficient silicon photonic modulators that combine sub-1 mm device lengths with sub-1 V drive voltages and modulation bandwidths of more than 100 GHz.

    

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5. Low-loss GaO x -core/SiO 2 -cladding planar waveguides on Si substrate

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.391036  

   Tan, Si ; Deng, Huiyang ; Urbanek, Karel E. ; Miao, Yu ; Zhao, Zhexin ; Harris, James S. ; Byer, Robert L. ( April 2020 , Optics Express)

   The unique properties of gallium oxide (GaO_x) have drawn increasing interest as a material suitable for high-power electronic and optical applications. Herein, we report the demonstration of low-loss GaO_x-core/SiO₂-cladding waveguides on Si substrate. We present the fabrication process and annealing treatments of the waveguide devices, and we characterize the corresponding effects on optical transmission for 3 common wavelengths: 633 nm, 1064 nm, and 1550 nm. The best propagation loss achieved for these wavelengths is measured to be$-<\#comment/>0.4\pm <\#comment/>0.1\text{dB/cm}$,$-<\#comment/>0.3\pm <\#comment/>0.2\text{dB/cm}$, and$-<\#comment/>2.4\pm <\#comment/>0.5\text{dB/cm}$, respectively. We discuss the major waveguide loss mechanisms, followed by results of pump and probe experiments using visible/IR wavelengths for waveguides treated under various post-fabrication annealing conditions. We also show nonlinear measurements for a 250 fs laser beam to offer additional insights into the loss mechanisms, which are consistent with the linear optical transmission performances. High waveguide laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of$>2.5{\text{J/cm}}^2$is measured at this pulse width, making GaO_xa potential candidate for high-power integrated photonic devices.

    

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