Waveguides in single-crystal lithium niobate thin film by proton exchange

Bound modes in the continuum in integrated photonic LiNbO3 waveguides: are they always beneficial?

We discuss several types of integrated photonic LiNbO₃ waveguides supporting propagation of modes which can be classified as bound states in the continuum (BICs). The key properties leading to the existence of BICs (or quasi-BICs) considered here are the material anisotropy, the waveguide birefringence, or the combination of both. Typical examples are titanium diffused and proton exchanged waveguides in bulk LiNbO₃ crystals and recently proposed dielectric-loaded waveguides on LiNbO₃ thin films. Proton exchanged waveguides in thin film LiNbO₃ are considered, too. These waveguide structures are discussed from the point of view of their benefit for applications, especially in electro-optic devices.

Tracer diffusion in proton-exchanged congruent LiNbO3 crystals as a function of hydrogen content

The proton-exchange process is an effective method of fabricating low-loss waveguides based on LiNbO₃ crystals. During proton-exchange, lithium is replaced by hydrogen and Li_1-xH_xNbO₃ is formed. Currently, mechanisms and kinetics of the proton-exchange process are unclear, primarily due to a lack in reliable tracer diffusion data. We studied lithium and hydrogen tracer diffusion in proton-exchanged congruent LiNbO₃ single crystals in the temperature range between 130-230 °C. Proton-exchange was done in benzoic acid with 0, 1, 2, or 3.6 mol% lithium benzoate added, resulting in micrometre thick surface layers where Li is substituted by H with relative fractions between x = 0.45 and 0.85 as determined by Nuclear Reaction Analysis. For the diffusion experiments, ion-beam sputtered isotope enriched ⁶LiNbO₃ was used as a Li tracer source and deuterated benzoic acid as a H tracer source. Isotope depth profile analysis was carried out by secondary ion mass spectrometry. From the experimental results, effective diffusivities governing the lithium/hydrogen exchange as well as individual hydrogen and lithium tracer diffusivities are extracted. All three types of diffusivities can be described by the Arrhenius law with an activation enthalpy of about 1.0-1.2 eV and increase as a function of hydrogen content nearly independent of temperature. The effective diffusivities and the lithium tracer diffusivities are identical within a factor of two to five, while the hydrogen diffusivities are higher by three orders of magnitude. The results show that the diffusion of Li is the rate determining step governing the proton-exchange process. Exponential dependencies between diffusivities and hydrogen concentrations are determined. The observed increase of Li tracer diffusivities and effective diffusivities as a function of hydrogen concentration is attributed to a continuous reduction of the migration enthalpy of diffusion by a maximum factor of about 0.2 eV. Simulations based on the determined diffusivities can reproduce the step-like profile of hydrogen penetration during proton-exchange.

Ultra-efficient and fully isotropic monolithic microring modulators in a thin-film lithium niobate photonics platform

The large electro-optic coefficient, r₃₃, of thin-film lithium niobate (LN) on insulator makes it an excellent material platform for high-efficiency optical modulators. Using the fundamental transverse magnetic optical mode in Z-cut LN enables isotropic in-plane devices; however, realizing a strong vertical electric field to capitalize on r₃₃ has been challenging. Here we present a symmetric electrode configuration to boost the vertical field strength inside a fully-etched single-mode LN waveguide. We use this design paradigm to demonstrate an ultra-compact fully isotropic microring modulator with a high electro-optic tuning efficiency of 9 pm/V, extinction ratio of 20 dB, and modulation bandwidth beyond 28 GHz. Under quasi-static operation, the tuning efficiency of the modulator reaches 20 pm/V. Fast, efficient, high-contrast modulation will be critical in future optical communication systems while large quasi-static efficiency will enable post-fabrication trimming, thermal compensation, and even complete reconfiguration of microring-based sensor arrays and photonic integrated circuits.

Electrically generated optical waveguide in a lithium-niobate thin film

This paper reports an electrically generated optical waveguide for the transverse-magnetic wave. The waveguide is formed in a z-cut single-crystal lithium-niobate (LN) thin film by the electro-optic effect, where the extraordinary refractive index (RI) of the LN film is increased by a voltage applied to patterned electrodes that define the waveguide geometry. Such a waveguide can be made to exist or disappear by turning on or off the applied voltage. A straight waveguide and an S-bend waveguide with an RI contrast of ∼0.004 are generated at a voltage of 200 V. The propagation loss of the generated waveguide measured at the wavelength 532 nm is 1.8 dB/cm. Electrically generated optical waveguides could fulfill useful functions in photonic integrated circuits, such as reconfigurable cross connect and switching that require wavelength-independent and mode-independent operation.

Realization of alignment-tolerant grating couplers for z-cut thin-film lithium niobate

We present the design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of grating coupler devices for z-cut lithium niobate near 1550 nm. We first experimentally measure the sensitivity of the insertion loss of a conventional grating coupler to translational misalignment through a three-factor full factorial design of experiment. Next, we design grating couplers that are significantly less sensitive to misalignment. The fabricated devices experienced less than 7 dB of excess insertion loss for combined misalignments of up to ± 5 μm in plane and up to -2 μm or + 10 μm out of plane.

LiNbO3 surfaces from a microscopic perspective

A large number of oxides has been investigated in the last twenty years as possible new materials for various applications ranging from opto-electronics to heterogeneous catalysis. In this context, ferroelectric oxides are particularly promising. The electric polarization plays a crucial role at many oxide surfaces, and it largely determines their physical and chemical properties. Ferroelectrics offer in addition the possibility to control/switch the electric polarization and hence the surface chemistry, allowing for the realization of domain-engineered nanoscale devices such as molecular detectors or highly efficient catalysts. Lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) is a ferroelectric with a high spontaneous polarization, whose surfaces have a huge and largely unexplored potential. Owing to recent advances in experimental techniques and sample preparation, peculiar and exclusive properties of LiNbO₃ surfaces could be demonstrated. For example, water films freeze at different temperatures on differently polarized surfaces, and the chemical etching properties of surfaces with opposite polarization are strongly different. More important, the ferroelectric domain orientation affects temperature dependent surface stabilization mechanisms and molecular adsorption phenomena. Various ab initio theoretical investigations have been performed in order to understand the outcome of these experiments and the origin of the exotic behavior of the lithium niobate surfaces. Thanks to these studies, many aspects of their surface physics and chemistry could be clarified. Yet other puzzling features are still not understood. This review gives a résumé on the present knowledge of lithium niobate surfaces, with a particular view on their microscopic properties, explored in recent years by means of ab initio calculations. Relevant aspects and properties of the surfaces that need further investigation are briefly discussed. The review is concluded with an outlook of challenges and potential payoff for LiNbO₃ based applications.

Lightwave Circuits in Lithium Niobate through Hybrid Waveguides with Silicon Photonics

We demonstrate a photonic waveguide technology based on a two-material core, in which light is controllably and repeatedly transferred back and forth between sub-micron thickness crystalline layers of Si and LN bonded to one another, where the former is patterned and the latter is not. In this way, the foundry-based wafer-scale fabrication technology for silicon photonics can be leveraged to form lithium-niobate based integrated optical devices. Using two different guided modes and an adiabatic mode transition between them, we demonstrate a set of building blocks such as waveguides, bends, and couplers which can be used to route light underneath an unpatterned slab of LN, as well as outside the LN-bonded region, thus enabling complex and compact lightwave circuits in LN alongside Si photonics with fabrication ease and low cost.

Channel waveguides and y-junctions in x-cut single-crystal lithium niobate thin film

Proton exchanged channel waveguides in x-cut single-crystal lithium niobate thin film could avoid optical leakage loss which existed in the z-cut case. Indicated by simulations, the mechanism and condition of the optical leakage loss were studied. The light energy in the exchanged layer and the mode sizes were calculated to optimize the parameters for fabrication. By a very short time (3 minutes) proton exchange process without anneal, the channel waveguide with 2 μm width and 0.16 μm exchanged depth in the x-cut lithium niobate thin film had a propagation loss as low as 0.2 dB/cm at 1.55 μm. Furthermore, the Y-junctions based on the low-loss waveguide were designed and fabricated. For a Y-junction based on the 3 μm wide channel waveguide with 8000 μm bending radius, the total transmission could reach 85% ~90% and the splitting ratio maintained at a stable level around 1:1. The total length was smaller than 1 mm, much shorter than the conventional Ti-diffused and proton exchanged Y-junctions in bulk lithium niobate.

Tailoring the dispersion behavior of optical nanowires with intercore-cladding lithium niobate thin film

The dispersion properties of silica and silicon subwavelength-diameter wires with intercore-cladding uniaxial dielectric lithium niobate thin film has been studied numerically in detail. The waveguide dispersion shifts centered around 1550-nm wavelength have been investigated. It shows that the dispersion of optical nanowires with intercore-cladding lithium niobate thin film is highly sensitive to fiber geometry. Moreover, with applied electric field, considerable dispersion shifts without changing its geometric structure can be obtained. Our work may provide an inroad for developing miniaturized functional optoelectronic devices.

Waveguides consisting of single-crystal lithium niobate thin film and oxidized titanium stripe

Strip-loaded waveguides were fabricated by the direct oxidation of a titanium film based on the single-crystal lithium niobate. The method avoided the surface roughness problems that are normally introduced during dry etching of waveguide sidewalls. Propagation modes of the composite strip waveguide were analyzed by a full-vectorial finite difference method. The minimum dimensions of the propagation modes were calculated to be 0.7 μm(2) and 1.1 μm(2) for quasi-TM mode and quasi-TE mode at 1550 nm when the thickness of the LN layer and TiO(2) strip was 660 nm and 95 nm, respectively. The optical intensity was as high as 93% and was well confined in the LN layer for quasi-TM polarization. In this experiment, the propagation losses for the composite strip waveguide with 6 μm wide TiO(2) were 14 dB/cm for quasi-TM mode and 5.8 dB/cm for quasi-TE mode, respectively. The compact hybrid structures have the potential to be utilized for compact photonic integrated devices.

Low-loss waveguides in a single-crystal lithium niobate thin film

We report low-loss channel waveguides in a single-crystal LiNbO(3) thin film achieved using the annealed proton exchange process. The simulation indicated that the mode size of the α phase channel waveguide could be as small as 1.2  μm(2). Waveguides with several different widths were fabricated, and the 4 μm-wide channel waveguide exhibited a mode size of 4.6  μm(2). Its propagation loss was accurately evaluated to be as low as 0.6 dB/cm at 1.55 μm. The single-crystal lattice structure in the LiNbO(3) thin film was preserved by a moderate annealed proton exchange process (5 min of proton exchange at 200°C, followed by 3 h annealing at 350°C), as revealed by measuring the extraordinary refractive index change and x ray rocking curve. A longer proton exchange time followed by stronger annealing would destroy the crystal structure and induce a high loss in the channel waveguides.