Lithium niobate photonics: Unlocking the electromagnetic spectrum

Science · 2023 · 581 citations

• Computer Science
• Optoelectronics
• Engineering physics

Lithium niobate (LN), first synthesized 70 years ago, has been widely used in diverse applications ranging from communications to quantum optics. These high-volume commercial applications have provided the economic means to establish a mature manufacturing and processing industry for high-quality LN crystals and wafers. Breakthrough science demonstrations to commercial products have been achieved owing to the ability of LN to generate and manipulate electromagnetic waves across a broad spectrum, from microwave to ultraviolet frequencies. Here, we provide a high-level Review of the history of LN as an optical material, its different photonic platforms, engineering concepts, spectral coverage, and essential applications before providing an outlook for the future of LN.

2022 Roadmap on integrated quantum photonics

Journal of Physics Photonics · 2022 · 393 citations

• Computer Science
• Computer Science
• Electronic engineering

Integrated photonics is at the heart of many classical technologies, from optical communications to biosensors, LIDAR, and data center fiber interconnects. There is strong evidence that these integrated technologies will play a key role in quantum systems as they grow from few-qubit prototypes to tens of thousands of qubits. The underlying laser and optical quantum technologies, with the required functionality and performance, can only be realized through the integration of these components onto quantum photonic integrated circuits (QPICs) with accompanying electronics. In the last decade, remarkable advances in quantum photonic integration and a dramatic reduction in optical losses have enabled benchtop experiments to be scaled down to prototype chips with improvements in efficiency, robustness, and key performance metrics. The reduction in size, weight, power, and improvement in stability that will be enabled by QPICs will play a key role in increasing the degree of complexity and scale in quantum demonstrations. In the next decade, with sustained research, development, and investment in the quantum photonic ecosystem (i.e. PIC-based platforms, devices and circuits, fabrication and integration processes, packaging, and testing and benchmarking), we will witness the transition from single- and few-function prototypes to the large-scale integration of multi-functional and reconfigurable QPICs that will define how information is processed, stored, transmitted, and utilized for quantum computing, communications, metrology, and sensing. This roadmap highlights the current progress in the field of integrated quantum photonics, future challenges, and advances in science and technology needed to meet these challenges.

High-performance modified uni-traveling carrier photodiode integrated on a thin-film lithium niobate platform

Photonics Research · 2022 · 79 citations

• Optoelectronics
• Materials science
• Optics

Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) has become an intriguing platform for integrated photonics for applications in communications, microwave photonics, and computing. Whereas, integrated devices including modulators, resonators, and lasers with high performance have been recently realized on the LNOI platform, high-speed photodetectors, an essential building block in photonic integrated circuits, have not been demonstrated on LNOI yet. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, heterogeneously integrated modified uni-traveling carrier photodiodes on LNOI with a record-high bandwidth of 80 GHz and a responsivity of 0.6 A/W at a 1550-nm wavelength. The photodiodes are based on an n-down InGaAs/InP epitaxial layer structure that was optimized for high carrier transit time-limited bandwidth. Photodiode integration was achieved using a scalable wafer die bonding approach that is fully compatible with the LNOI platform.

Integrated femtosecond pulse generator on thin-film lithium niobate

Nature · 2022 · 253 citations

• Materials science
• Optoelectronics
• Optics

Development of Quantum Interconnects (QuICs) for Next-Generation Information Technologies

PRX Quantum · 2021 · 82 citations

• Computer Science
• Computer Science
• Telecommunications

Just as classical information technology rests on a foundation built of interconnected information-processing systems, quantum information technology (QIT) must do the same. A critical component of such systems is the interconnect, a device or process that allows transfer of information between disparate physical media, for example, semiconductor electronics, individual atoms, light pulses in optical fiber, or microwave fields. While interconnects have been well engineered for decades in the realm of classical information technology, quantum interconnects (QuICs) present special challenges, as they must allow the transfer of fragile quantum states between different physical parts or degrees of freedom of the system. The diversity of QIT platforms (superconducting, atomic, solid-state color center, optical, etc.) that will form a quantum internet poses additional challenges. As quantum systems scale to larger size, the quantum interconnect bottleneck is imminent, and is emerging as a grand challenge for QIT. For these reasons, it is the position of the community represented by participants of the NSF workshop on Quantum Interconnects that accelerating QuIC research is crucial for sustained development of a national quantum science and technology program. Given the diversity of QIT platforms, materials used, applications, and infrastructure required, a convergent research program including partnership between academia, industry and national laboratories is required. This document is a summary from a U.S. National Science Foundation supported workshop held on 31 October - 1 November 2019 in Alexandria, VA. Attendees were charged to identify the scientific and community needs, opportunities, and significant challenges for quantum interconnects over the next 2-5 years.

On-chip electro-optic frequency shifters and beam splitters

Nature · 2021 · 195 citations

• Computer Science
• Optoelectronics
• Materials science

Electrically Tunable Valley Dynamics in Twisted <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>WSe</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>/</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>WSe</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math> Bilayers

Physical Review Letters · 2020 · 149 citations

• Physics
• Materials science
• Condensed matter physics

The twist degree of freedom provides a powerful new tool for engineering the electrical and optical properties of van der Waals heterostructures. Here, we show that the twist angle can be used to control the spin-valley properties of transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers by changing the momentum alignment of the valleys in the two layers. Specifically, we observe that the interlayer excitons in twisted WSe_{2}/WSe_{2} bilayers exhibit a high (>60%) degree of circular polarization (DOCP) and long valley lifetimes (>40 ns) at zero electric and magnetic fields. The valley lifetime can be tuned by more than 3 orders of magnitude via electrostatic doping, enabling switching of the DOCP from ∼80% in the n-doped regime to <5% in the p-doped regime. These results open up new avenues for tunable chiral light-matter interactions, enabling novel device schemes that exploit the valley degree of freedom.

Ultrabroadband nonlinear optics in nanophotonic periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides

Optica · 2020 · 306 citations

• Optics
• Materials science
• Optoelectronics

Quasi-phase-matched interactions in waveguides with quadratic nonlinearities enable highly efficient nonlinear frequency conversion. In this paper, we demonstrate the first generation of devices that combine the dispersion engineering available in nanophotonic waveguides with quasi-phase-matched nonlinear interactions available in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). This combination enables quasi-static interactions of femtosecond pulses, reducing the pulse energy requirements by several orders of magnitude compared to conventional devices, from picojoules to femtojoules. We experimentally demonstrate two effects associated with second harmonic generation (SHG). First, we observe efficient quasi-phase-matched SHG with <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">f</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">J</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> of pulse energy. Second, in the limit of strong phase-mismatch, we observe spectral broadening of both harmonics with as little as 2 pJ of pulse energy. These results lay a foundation for a new class of nonlinear devices, in which coengineering of dispersion with quasi-phase-matching enables efficient nonlinear optics at the femtojoule level.

Experimental demonstration of memory-enhanced quantum communication

Nature · 2020 · 157 citations

• Computer Science
• Computer Science
• Electronic engineering