Lithium Niobate Electro-optic Modulators Research Articles

High-Frequency and High-Linearity Lithium Niobate Electro-optic Modulator

High-Frequency and High-Linearity Lithium Niobate Electro-optic Modulator

Extremely high extinction ratio electro-optic modulator via frequency upconversion to visible wavelengths.

Intensity modulators are fundamental components for integrated photonics. From near-infrared (NIR) to visible spectral ranges, they find applications in optical communication and quantum technologies. In particular, they are required for the control and manipulation of atomic systems such as atomic clocks and quantum computers. Typical integrated electro-optic modulators operating at these wavelengths show high bandwidth and low-voltage operation, but their extinction ratios are moderate. Here we present an integrated thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic (EO) modulator operating in the C-band, which uses a subsequent periodically poled waveguide to convert the modulated signal from 1536 to 768 nm using the second-harmonic (SH) generation. We demonstrate that the upconverted signal retains the characteristics of the modulated input signal, reaching a measured high bandwidth of 35 GHz. Due to the nature of the nonlinear process, it exhibits, with respect to the fundamental signal, a doubled extinction ratio of 46 dB, which is the highest, to the best of our knowledge, recorded for near-infrared light on this platform.

Integrated thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic frequency comb for picosecond optical pulse train generation

In recent years, high-performance thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic (EO) modulators boost the fast development of highly integrated, low loss, and large comb spacing EO frequency combs. Furthermore, ultra-short optical pulse trains (USOPTs) can be generated by the temporal domain compression of the optical frequency comb, which play an essential role in photonic sampling analog-to-digital conversion. Here, we demonstrate a flat and broadband EO frequency comb based on a packaged TFLN chip including a monolithic integrated intensity modulator, a phase modulator, and edge couplers. The 25 comb lines with a power fluctuation less than 3 dB are presented successfully. Moreover, we obtain a 10 GHz repetition rate USOPT, the pulse width of which is compressed to 2.67 ps. Our device may find its applications in the fields of ultrafast measurement, wavelength-division-multiplexing optical communication, or high-precision photonic sampling.

Lithium niobate thin film electro-optic modulator

Abstract The linear electro-optic effect offers a valuable means to control light properties via an external electric field. Lithium niobate (LN), with its high electro-optic coefficients and broad optical transparency ranges, stands out as a prominent material for efficient electro-optic modulators. The recent advent of lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) wafers has sparked renewed interest in LN for compact photonic devices. In this study, we present an electro-optic modulator utilizing a thin LN film sandwiched between top and bottom gold (Au) film electrodes, forming a Fabry–Pérot (F–P) resonator. This resonator exhibits spectral resonance shifts under an applied electric field, enabling efficient modulation of reflected light strength. The modulator achieved a 2.3 % modulation amplitude under ±10 V alternating voltage. Our approach not only presents a simpler fabrication process but also offers larger modulation amplitudes compared to previously reported metasurface based LN electro-optic modulators. Our results open up new opportunities for compact electro-optic modulators with applications in beam steering devices, dynamic holograms, and spatial light modulators, and more.

Ultra-compact electro-optic phase modulator based on a lithium niobate topological slow light waveguide.

Electro-optic modulators (EOMs) are essential devices of optical communications and quantum computing systems. In particular, ultra-compact EOMs are necessary for highly integrated photonic chips. Thin film lithium niobate materials are a promising platform for designing highly efficient EOMs. However, EOMs based on conventional waveguide structures are at a millimeter scale and challenging to scale down further, greatly hindering the capability of on-chip integration. Here, we design an EOM based on lithium niobate valley photonic crystal (VPC) structures for the first time. Due to the high effective refractive index introduced by the strong slow light effect, the EOM can achieve an ultra-compact size of 4 μm×14 μm with a half-wave voltage of 1.4 V. The EOM has a high transmittance of 0.87 in the 1068 nm because of the unique spin-valley locking effect in VPC structures. The design is fully compatible with current nanofabrication technology and immune to fabrication defects. Therefore, it opens a new possibility in designing lithium niobate electro-optic modulators and will find broad applications in optical communication and quantum photonic devices.

High‐Efficiency Electro‐Optic Modulator on Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate with High‐Permittivity Cladding

AbstractThin‐film lithium niobate is a promising platform owing to its large electro‐optic (EO) coefficients and low propagation loss. However, the large footprints of devices limit their application in large‐scale integrated optical systems. A crucial challenge is how to maintain the performance advantage given the design space restrictions in this situation. This work proposes and demonstrates a high‐efficiency lithium niobate EO modulator with high‐permittivity cladding to improve the electric field strength in waveguides and its overlap with optical fields while maintaining low optical loss and broad bandwidth. The proposed modulator exhibits considerable improvement, featuring a low half‐wave voltage–length product of 1.41 V∙cm, a low excess loss of ≈0.5 dB, and a broad 3 dB EO bandwidth of >67 GHz. Among all the Mach‐Zehnder interferometer modulators reported thus far, the proposed modulator demonstrates notably high modulation efficiency while maintaining excellent high‐frequency performance. The design scheme of using high‐permittivity cladding may provide a promising solution for improving the integration of photonic devices on the thin‐film lithium niobate platform, and these devices may serve as fundamental components in large‐scale photonic integrated circuits in the future.

High-efficiency thin-film lithium niobate modulator with highly confined optical modes.

We demonstrate a low-loss, high-efficiency lithium niobate electro-optic (EO) modulator with optical isolation trenches to achieve stronger field confinement and reduced light absorption loss. The proposed modulator realized considerable improvements, including a low half-wave voltage-length product of 1.2 V·cm, an excess loss of ∼2.4 dB, and a broad 3-dB EO bandwidth of over 40 GHz. We developed a lithium niobate modulator with, to the best of our knowledge, the highest reported modulation efficiency of any Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) modulator.

High-performance thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator based on etching slot andultrathin silicon film.

An electro-optic modulator (EOM) is an indispensable component to connect the electric and optical fields. Here, we propose a high-performance, thin-film lithium niobate-based EOM, where the modulation waveguide is formed by an etching slot on the lithium niobate film and the deposit of an ultrathin silicon film in the slot region. Therefore, a small mode size and high mode energy can be simultaneously achieved in the LN region with a high EO coefficient, which will be beneficial to increase the EO overlap and gradually decrease in the mode size. Further, we employed a waveguide structure to construct a typical Mach-Zehnder interference-type EOM. According to the requirements of high-speed traveling wave modulation, we conduct the index matching, impedance matching, and low-loss operation. From the results, the key half-wave voltage length product and 3dB modulation bandwidth are, respectively, 1.45Vcm and 119GHz in a modulation length of 4mm. Moreover, a larger 3dB bandwidth also can be achieved by shortening the modulation length. Therefore, we believe the proposed waveguide structure and EOM will provide new ways to enhance the performance of LNOI-based EOMs.

Integrated O- and C-band silicon-lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulators with 100 GHz bandwidth, low voltage, and low loss.

Broadband integrated thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulators (EOM) are desirable for optical communications and signal processing in both the O-band (1310 nm) and C-band (1550 nm). To address these needs, we design and demonstrate Mach-Zehnder (MZ) EOM devices in a hybrid platform based on TFLN bonded to foundry-fabricated silicon photonic waveguides. Using a single silicon lithography step and a single bonding step, we realize MZ EOM devices which cover both wavelength ranges on the same chip. The EOM devices achieve 100 GHz EO bandwidth (referenced to 1 GHz) and about 2-3 V.cm figure-of-merit (V π L) with low on-chip optical loss in both the O-band and C-band.

Heterogeneous silicon-on-lithium niobate electro-optic modulator for 100-Gbaud modulation

Integrated lithium niobate (LN) electro-optic (EO) modulators are emerging for applications in next-generation optical fiber communication networks. To date, LN crystal waveguides have led the technology for high-speed modulators. On the other hand, on-chip LN modulators are expected to realize scalable signaling devices with mature complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. In this study, a silicon-loaded LN modulator on the insulator substrate featuring a small footprint, a low driving voltage, and high-speed EO modulation is designed and fabricated. No etching or patterning of the LN is required. The measured halfwave-voltage length product is 1.9 V cm with a static modulation extinction ratio of 17.9 dB. The fabricated LN modulator has a modulation bandwidth of 60 GHz and supports high-speed signaling at a data rate up to 200 Gbit/s.

Ultra-high-linearity integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators

Integrated lithium niobate (LN) photonics is a promising platform for future chip-scale microwave photonics systems owing to its unique electro-optic properties, low optical loss, and excellent scalability. A key enabler for such systems is a highly linear electro-optic modulator that could faithfully convert analog electrical signals into optical signals. In this work, we demonstrate a monolithic integrated LN modulator with an ultra-high spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 120.04 dB · Hz 4 / 5 at 1 GHz, using a ring-assisted Mach–Zehnder interferometer configuration. The excellent synergy between the intrinsically linear electro-optic response of LN and an optimized linearization strategy allows us to fully suppress the cubic terms of third-order intermodulation distortions (IMD3) without active feedback controls, leading to ∼ 20 dB improvement over previous results in the thin-film LN platform. Our ultra-high-linearity LN modulators could become a core building block for future large-scale functional microwave photonic integrated circuits by further integration with other high-performance components like low-loss delay lines, tunable filters, and phase shifters available on the LN platform.

High bandwidth frequency modulation of an external cavity diode laser using an intracavity lithium niobate electro-optic modulator as output coupler

We present a novel approach to high bandwidth laser frequency modulation. A lithium niobate chip is used as an intracavity electro-optic modulator in a tunable cateye external cavity diode laser. The modulator is conveniently integrated with the cateye output coupler, providing a unique approach to high bandwidth frequency stabilization and linewidth narrowing. The intracavity modulator feedback was successfully operated below 1 V and achieved superior frequency noise suppression compared to conventional feedback through diode injection current modulation. A closed loop bandwidth of 1.8 MHz was demonstrated, and the laser linewidth reduced to around 1 Hz as measured by the heterodyne measurement.

High-Production-Rate Fabrication of Low-Loss Lithium Niobate Electro-Optic Modulators Using Photolithography Assisted Chemo-Mechanical Etching (PLACE)

Integrated thin-film lithium niobate (LN) electro-optic (EO) modulators of broad bandwidth, low insertion loss, low cost and high production rate are essential elements in contemporary interconnection industries and disruptive applications. Here, we demonstrated the design and fabrication of a high performance thin-film LN EO modulator using photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE) technology. Our device shows a 3-dB bandwidth over 50 GHz, along with a comparable low half wave voltage-length product of 2.16 Vcm and a fiber-to-fiber insertion loss of 2.6 dB. The PLACE technology supports large footprint, high fabrication uniformity, competitive production rate and extreme low device optical loss simultaneously, our result shows promising potential for developing high-performance large-scale low-loss photonic integrated devices.

Compact electro-optic modulator on lithium niobate

Fast electro-optic modulators with an ultracompact footprint and low power consumption are always highly desired for optical interconnects. Here we propose and demonstrate a high-performance lithium niobate electro-optic modulator based on a new 2 × 2 Fabry–Perot cavity. In this structure, the input and reflected beams are separated by introducing asymmetric multimode-waveguide gratings, enabling TE 0 − TE 1 mode conversion. The measured results indicate that the fabricated modulator features a low excess loss of ∼ 0.9 dB , a high extinction ratio of ∼ 21 dB , a compact footprint of ∼ 2120 μm 2 , and high modulation speeds of 40 Gbps OOK and 80 Gbps PAM4 signals. The demonstrated modulator is promising for high-speed data transmission and signal processing.

Monolithic thin film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator with over 110 GHz bandwidth

High-performance thin film lithium niobate (LN) electro-optic modulators with low cost are in demand. Based on photolithography and wet etching, we experimentally demonstrate a thin film LN Mach–Zehnder modulator with a 3 dB bandwidth exceeding 110 GHz, which shows the potential of boosting the throughput and reducing cost. The fabricated modulator also exhibits a comparable low half-wave voltage-length product of ∼2.37 V·cm, a high extinction ratio of >23 dB, and the propagation loss of optical waveguides of ∼0.2 dB/cm. Besides, six-level pulse amplitude modulation up to 250 Gb/s is successfully achieved.

Sub-terahertz bandwidth capactively-loaded thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulators based on an undercut structure

A thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulator based on a partially removed benzocyclobutene (BCB) bonding layer is proposed for sub-terahertz bandwidth. Low-loss microwave transmission is realized by periodic capacitively loaded travelling-wave electrodes (CL-TWEs) with an undercut structure, and the air-filled region beneath the modulator arms is adjusted to secure impedance and velocity matching. A low half-wave voltage length product of 1.2 V·cm can be achieved with 2-µm-gap loaded electrodes, while the 3-dB electro-optic modulation bandwidth for 10 mm modulation length is estimated beyond 300 GHz, thus allowing sub-terahertz operation.

Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators: when performance meets scalability

Electro-optic modulators (EOMs) convert signals from the electrical to the optical domain. They are at the heart of optical communication, microwave signal processing, sensing, and quantum technologies. Next-generation EOMs require high-density integration, low cost, and high performance simultaneously, which are difficult to achieve with established integrated photonics platforms. Thin-film lithium niobate (LN) has recently emerged as a strong contender owing to its high intrinsic electro-optic (EO) efficiency, industry-proven performance, robustness, and, importantly, the rapid development of scalable fabrication techniques. The thin-film LN platform inherits nearly all the material advantages from the legacy bulk LN devices and amplifies them with a smaller footprint, wider bandwidths, and lower power consumption. Since the first adoption of commercial thin-film LN wafers only a few years ago, the overall performance of thin-film LN modulators is already comparable with, if not exceeding, the performance of the best alternatives based on mature platforms such as silicon and indium phosphide, which have benefited from many decades of research and development. In this mini-review, we explain the principles and technical advances that have enabled state-of-the-art LN modulator demonstrations. We discuss several approaches, their advantages and challenges. We also outline the paths to follow if LN modulators are to improve further, and we provide a perspective on what we believe their performance could become in the future. Finally, as the integrated LN modulator is a key subcomponent of more complex photonic functionalities, we look forward to exciting opportunities for larger-scale LN EO circuits beyond single components.

Thin Film Lithium Niobate Electro-Optic Modulator for 1064 nm Wavelength

Electro-optic modulators are used in a wide variety of photonic systems, and their operation at the 1064 nm wavelength is notable for its applications such as frequency comb generation and optical interconnects. This work demonstrates the first (to the best of our knowledge) thin film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator operating at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The modulator was fabricated from crystal-ion-sliced lithium niobate wafers procured from NanoLN. Electron beam lithography was used to define the waveguides, and laser lithography was used to define the electrodes, forming a ridge waveguide in the lithium niobate, with a width of 900 nm and an etch depth of 90 nm, by inductively coupled plasma etching. The modulator was characterized using a polarization rotation technique, in which two modes of the waveguide were excited and both were shown to exhibit phase modulation. This modulator exhibits a half-wave voltage of 2.73 volts, with a 7 mm long interaction region and 1.91 V-cm modulation efficiency.

Wideband thin-film lithium niobate modulator with low half-wave-voltage length product

A novel thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulator is proposed and demonstrated. LiNbO3-silica hybrid waveguide is adopted to maintain low optical loss for an electrode spacing as narrow as 3 µm, resulting in a low half-wave-voltage length product of only 1.7 V·cm. Capacitively loaded traveling-wave electrodes are employed to reduce the microwave loss, while a quartz substrate is used in place of a silicon substrate to achieve velocity matching. The fabricated TFLN modulator with a 5-mm-long modulation region exhibits a half-wave voltage of 3.4 V and a merely less than 2 dB roll-off in an electro-optic response up to 67 GHz.

Foundry-compatible thin film lithium niobate modulator with RF electrodes buried inside the silicon oxide layer of the SOI wafer.

Ever-increasing complexity of communication systems demands the co-integration of electronics and photonics. But there are still some challenges associated with the integration of thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulators with the standard and well-established silicon photonics. Current TFLN platforms are mostly not compatible with the silicon photonics foundry process due to the choice of substrate or complicated fabrication requirements, including silicon substrate removal and formation of radio-frequency (RF) electrodes on the top of the TFLN. Here, we report on a platform where all the optical and RF waveguiding structures are fabricated first, and then the TFLN is bonded on top of the silicon photonic chip as the only additional step. Hence, the need for substrate removal is eliminated, and except for the last step of TFLN bonding, its fabrication process is silicon foundry compatible and much more straightforward compared to other fabrication methods.