Long Low-Loss-Litium Niobate on Insulator Waveguides with Sub-Nanometer Surface Roughness

In this paper, we develop a technique for realizing multi-centimeter-long lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguides with a propagation loss as low as 0.027 dB/cm. Our technique relies on patterning a chromium thin film coated on the top surface of LNOI into a hard mask with a femtosecond laser...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rongbo Wu, Min Wang, Jian Xu, Jia Qi, Wei Chu, Zhiwei Fang, Jianhao Zhang, Junxia Zhou, Lingling Qiao, Zhifang Chai, Jintian Lin, Ya Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
Series:Nanomaterials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/8/11/910
Description
Summary:In this paper, we develop a technique for realizing multi-centimeter-long lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguides with a propagation loss as low as 0.027 dB/cm. Our technique relies on patterning a chromium thin film coated on the top surface of LNOI into a hard mask with a femtosecond laser followed by chemo-mechanical polishing for structuring the LNOI into the waveguides. The surface roughness on the waveguides was determined with an atomic force microscope to be 0.452 nm. The approach is compatible with other surface patterning technologies, such as optical and electron beam lithographies or laser direct writing, enabling high-throughput manufacturing of large-scale LNOI-based photonic integrated circuits.
ISSN:2079-4991