Lithium Niobate Microcavities Research Articles

Nonlinear Optical Radiation of a Lithium Niobate Microcavity

The nonlinear optical radiation of an integrated lithium niobate microcavity is demonstrated, which has been neglected in previous studies of nonlinear photonic devices. We find that the nonlinear coupling between confined optical modes on the chip and continuum modes in free space can be greatly enhanced on the platform of integrated microcavity, with feasible relaxation of the phase-matching condition. With an infrared pump laser, we observe the vertical radiation of second-harmonic wave at the visible band, which indicates a robust phase-matching-free chip-to-free-space frequency converter and also unveils an extra energy dissipation channel for integrated devices. Such an unexpected coherent nonlinear interaction between the free-space beam and the confined mode is also validated by the different frequency generation. Furthermore, based on the phase-matching-free nature of the nonlinear radiation, we build an integrated atomic gas sensor to characterize Rb isotopes with a single telecom laser. The unveiled mechanism of nonlinear optical radiation is universal for all dielectric photonic integrated devices, and provides a simple and robust chip-to-free-space as well as visible-to-telecom interface.

Single-Mode Photon Blockade Enhanced by Bi-Tone Drive.

A scheme for observing photon blockade in a single bosonic mode with weak nonlinearity is proposed and numerically verified. Using a simple bi-tone drive, sub- and super-Poissonian light can be generated with high fidelity. With a periodically poled lithium niobate microcavity, a sub-Poissonian photon source with kHz count rate can be realized. Our proposed scheme is robust against parameter variations of the cavity and extendable to any bosonic system with anharmonic energy levels.

Sum-frequency generation of a laser and its background in an on-chip lithium-niobate microdisk

Lithium-niobate microcavities have not only the ability to resonantly enhance light–matter interaction but also excellent nonlinear optical properties, thereby providing an important platform for nonlinear optical investigations. In this paper, we report the observation of multi-peak spectra in the near infrared range in lithium-niobate microcavities on a chip under the pump of a 1550 nm continuous laser. Such a multi-peak spectrum was attributed to the sum-frequency of the pump laser and its background. The conversion efficiencies of the sum-frequency processes are of the order of 61.5%W-1. The influences of the phenomenon on nonlinear processes were further discussed.

An erbium-doped lithium niobate micro-cavity laser

An erbium-doped lithium niobate micro-cavity laser

Low-threshold laser from erbium-gain lithium niobate microcavity

Low-threshold laser from erbium-gain lithium niobate microcavity

On-chip erbium-doped lithium niobate microcavity laser

The commercialization of lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) wafer has sparked significant on-chip photonic integration application due to its remarkable photonic, photoacoustic, electro-optic and piezoelectric nature. A variety of on-chip LNOI-based optical devices with high performance has been realized in recent years. Here we developed 1 mol\% erbium-doped LN crystal and its LNOI wafer, and fabricated an erbium-doped LNOI microdisk with high quality ($ \sim $ 1.05$\times 10^{^5}$ ). C-band laser emission with $ \sim $1530 nm and $ \sim $1560 nm from the high-Q erbium-doped LNOI microdisk was demonstrated both with 974 nm and 1460 nm pumping, and the latter has better thermal stability. This microlaser would play an important role in the photonic integrated circuits of lithium niobate platform.

Dual-periodically poled lithium niobate microcavities supporting multiple coupled parametric processes.

Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) microcavities with additional reciprocal vectors attract attention as a platform for efficient parametric nonlinear optical processes with wavelength and polarization flexibility. Here, we report the simultaneous realization of multiple coupled parametric processes in PPLN microdisk cavities with dual periods as a result of the significantly increased number of reciprocal vectors to fulfill quasi-phase matchings for a series of nonlinear processes. PPLN microdisks with up to 1.43×105 quality factors and unit domain size of 90 nm in width were fabricated using CMOS compatible microfabrication techniques and electrically poled with the help of piezoresponse force microscopy. The conversion efficiency of second-harmonic signal was measured to be 51%W-1. Our work paves the way towards efficient cascaded parametric effects including third- and fourth-harmonic generations.

Acousto-optic modulation of photonic bound state in the continuum

Photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) have recently been studied in various systems and have found wide applications in sensors, lasers, and filters. Applying BICs in photonic integrated circuits enables low-loss light guidance and routing in low-refractive-index waveguides on high-refractive-index substrates, which opens a new avenue for integrated photonics with functional single-crystal materials. Here, we demonstrate high-quality integrated lithium niobate microcavities inside which the photonic BIC modes circulate and further modulate these BIC modes acousto-optically by using piezoelectrically actuated surface acoustic waves at microwave frequencies. With a high acousto-optic modulation frequency, the acousto-optic coupling is well situated in the resolved-sideband regime. This leads to coherent coupling between microwave and optical photons, which is exhibited by the observed electro-acousto-optically induced transparency and absorption. Therefore, our devices serve as a paradigm for manipulating and controlling photonic BICs on a chip, which will enable many other applications of photonic BICs in the areas of microwave photonics and quantum information processing.