Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides
Abstract A highly efficient on-chip acousto-optic modulator is as a key component and occupies an exceptional position in microwave-to-optical conversion. Homogeneous thin-film lithium niobate is preferentially employed to build the suspended configuration for the acoustic resonant cavity, with the...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Nature Publishing Group
2022-05-01
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Series: | Light: Science & Applications |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00840-6 |
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author | Lei Wan Zhiqiang Yang Wenfeng Zhou Meixun Wen Tianhua Feng Siqing Zeng Dong Liu Huan Li Jingshun Pan Ning Zhu Weiping Liu Zhaohui Li |
author_facet | Lei Wan Zhiqiang Yang Wenfeng Zhou Meixun Wen Tianhua Feng Siqing Zeng Dong Liu Huan Li Jingshun Pan Ning Zhu Weiping Liu Zhaohui Li |
author_sort | Lei Wan |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract A highly efficient on-chip acousto-optic modulator is as a key component and occupies an exceptional position in microwave-to-optical conversion. Homogeneous thin-film lithium niobate is preferentially employed to build the suspended configuration for the acoustic resonant cavity, with the aim of improving the modulation efficiency of the device. However, the limited cavity length and complex fabrication recipe of the suspended prototype restrain further breakthroughs in modulation efficiency and impose challenges for waveguide fabrication. In this work, based on a nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide glass hybrid Mach–Zehnder interferometer waveguide platform, we propose and demonstrate a built-in push-pull acousto-optic modulator with a half-wave-voltage-length product V π L as low as 0.03 V cm that presents a modulation efficiency comparable to that of a state-of-the-art suspended counterpart. A microwave modulation link is demonstrated using our developed built-in push-pull acousto-optic modulator, which has the advantage of low power consumption. The nontrivial acousto-optic modulation performance benefits from the superior photoelastic property of the chalcogenide membrane and the completely bidirectional participation of the antisymmetric Rayleigh surface acoustic wave mode excited by the impedance-matched interdigital transducer, overcoming the issue of low modulation efficiency induced by the incoordinate energy attenuation of acoustic waves applied to the Mach–Zehnder interferometer with two arms in traditional push-pull acousto-optic modulators. |
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institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2047-7538 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:32:51Z |
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series | Light: Science & Applications |
spelling | doaj.art-d76e67b3ea43446fadcda7579be52eff2022-12-22T03:27:03ZengNature Publishing GroupLight: Science & Applications2047-75382022-05-0111111110.1038/s41377-022-00840-6Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguidesLei Wan0Zhiqiang Yang1Wenfeng Zhou2Meixun Wen3Tianhua Feng4Siqing Zeng5Dong Liu6Huan Li7Jingshun Pan8Ning Zhu9Weiping Liu10Zhaohui Li11Department of Electronic Engineering, College of Information Science and Technology, Jinan UniversityGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, Sun Yat-sen UniversityDepartment of Electronic Engineering, College of Information Science and Technology, Jinan UniversityDepartment of Electronic Engineering, College of Information Science and Technology, Jinan UniversityDepartment of Electronic Engineering, College of Information Science and Technology, Jinan UniversityGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, Sun Yat-sen UniversityGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, Sun Yat-sen UniversityState Key Laboratory for Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, International Research Center for Advanced Photonics, Zhejiang UniversityGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, Sun Yat-sen UniversityInstitute of Semiconductor Science and Technology, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Low Carbon and New Energy Materials, South China Normal UniversityDepartment of Electronic Engineering, College of Information Science and Technology, Jinan UniversityGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, Sun Yat-sen UniversityAbstract A highly efficient on-chip acousto-optic modulator is as a key component and occupies an exceptional position in microwave-to-optical conversion. Homogeneous thin-film lithium niobate is preferentially employed to build the suspended configuration for the acoustic resonant cavity, with the aim of improving the modulation efficiency of the device. However, the limited cavity length and complex fabrication recipe of the suspended prototype restrain further breakthroughs in modulation efficiency and impose challenges for waveguide fabrication. In this work, based on a nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide glass hybrid Mach–Zehnder interferometer waveguide platform, we propose and demonstrate a built-in push-pull acousto-optic modulator with a half-wave-voltage-length product V π L as low as 0.03 V cm that presents a modulation efficiency comparable to that of a state-of-the-art suspended counterpart. A microwave modulation link is demonstrated using our developed built-in push-pull acousto-optic modulator, which has the advantage of low power consumption. The nontrivial acousto-optic modulation performance benefits from the superior photoelastic property of the chalcogenide membrane and the completely bidirectional participation of the antisymmetric Rayleigh surface acoustic wave mode excited by the impedance-matched interdigital transducer, overcoming the issue of low modulation efficiency induced by the incoordinate energy attenuation of acoustic waves applied to the Mach–Zehnder interferometer with two arms in traditional push-pull acousto-optic modulators.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00840-6 |
spellingShingle | Lei Wan Zhiqiang Yang Wenfeng Zhou Meixun Wen Tianhua Feng Siqing Zeng Dong Liu Huan Li Jingshun Pan Ning Zhu Weiping Liu Zhaohui Li Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides Light: Science & Applications |
title | Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
title_full | Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
title_fullStr | Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
title_full_unstemmed | Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
title_short | Highly efficient acousto-optic modulation using nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
title_sort | highly efficient acousto optic modulation using nonsuspended thin film lithium niobate chalcogenide hybrid waveguides |
url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00840-6 |
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