Optical delay lines control the flow of light in time, introducing phase and group delays for engineering interferences and ultrashort pulses. Photonic integration of such optical delay lines is essential for chip-scale lightwave signal processing and pulse control. However, typical photonic delay lines based on long spiral waveguides require extensively large chip footprints, ranging from mm2to cm2scales. Here we present a scalable, high-density integrated delay line using a skin-depth engineered subwavelength grating waveguide, i.e., an extreme skin-depth (eskid) waveguide. The eskid waveguide suppresses the crosstalk between closely spaced waveguides, significantly saving the chip footprint area. Our eskid-based photonic delay line is easily scalable by increasing the number of turns and should improve the photonic chip integration density.
This content will become publicly available on March 21, 2025
The generation of ultra-low-noise microwave and mmWave in miniaturized, chip-based platforms can transform communication, radar and sensing systems1–3. Optical frequency division that leverages optical references and optical frequency combs has emerged as a powerful technique to generate microwaves with superior spectral purity than any other approaches4–7. Here we demonstrate a miniaturized optical frequency division system that can potentially transfer the approach to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform. Phase stability is provided by a large mode volume, planar-waveguide-based optical reference coil cavity8,9and is divided down from optical to mmWave frequency by using soliton microcombs generated in a waveguide-coupled microresonator10–12. Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated photonic mmWave oscillators, these devices can be heterogeneously integrated with semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and photodiodes, holding the potential of large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for fundamental and mass-market applications13.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2023775
- PAR ID:
- 10549965
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature
- Volume:
- 627
- Issue:
- 8004
- ISSN:
- 0028-0836
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 540 to 545
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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