Non-reciprocal components are essential in photonic systems for protecting light sources and for signal routing functions. Acousto-optic methods to produce non-reciprocal devices offer a foundry-compatible alternative to magneto-optic solutions and are especially important for photonic integration. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a dynamically reconfigurable non-reciprocal acousto-optic modulator at telecom wavelength. The modulator can be arranged in a multitude of reciprocal and non-reciprocal configurations by means of an external RF input. The dynamic reconfigurability of the device is enabled by a new cross-finger interdigitated piezoelectric transducer that can change the directionality of the reciprocity-breaking acoustic excitation based on the phase of the RF input. The methodology we demonstrate here may enable new avenues for direction dependent signal processing and optical isolation.
Emerging technologies based on tailorable interactions between photons and phonons promise new capabilities ranging from high-fidelity microwave signal processing to non-reciprocal optics and quantum state control. While such light-sound couplings have been studied in a variety of physical systems, many implementations rely on non-standard materials and fabrication schemes that are challenging to co-implement with standard integrated photonic circuitry. Notably, despite significant advances in integrated electro-optic modulators, related acousto-optic modulator concepts have remained relativel…
We report the design and characterization of high frequency, resonant acousto-optic modulators (AOM) in a MEMS foundry process. The doubly-resonant cavity design, with short ($L{\sim}10.5\, μm$) acoustic and optical cavity lengths, allows us to measure acousto-optic modulation at GHz frequencies with high modulation efficiency. In contrast to traditional AOMs, these devices rely on the perturbation induced by the displacement of cavity boundaries, which can be significantly enhanced in a suspended geometry. This platform can serve as the building block for fast 2D spatial light modulators (SLM…
We demonstrate a collinear acousto-optic modulator in a suspended film of lithium niobate employing a high-confinement, wavelength-scale waveguide. By strongly confining the optical and mechanical waves, this modulator improves by orders of magnitude a figure-of-merit that accounts for both acousto-optic and electro-mechanical efficiency. Our device demonstration marks a significant technological advance in acousto-optics that promises a novel class of compact and low-power frequency shifters, tunable filters, non-magnetic isolators, and beam deflectors.
Push-Pull acousto-optic modulator based on non-suspended thin-film lithium niobate on silicon substrate
Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University（普渡大学埃尔莫电气与计算机工程学院）；Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Michigan（密歇根大学电气与计算机工程系）
A highly efficient on-chip acousto-optic modulator, as a key component, occupies an exceptional position in microwave-to-optical conversion. Homogeneous thin-film lithium niobate is preferentially employed to build the suspended configuration forming the acoustic resonant cavity to improve the modulation efficiency of the device. However, the limited cavity length and complex fabrication recipe of the suspended prototype restrain further breakthrough in the modulation efficiency and impose challenges for waveguide fabrication. In this work, based on a nonsuspended thin-film lithium niobate-cha…
Laser power fluctuations can significantly reduce the device performances in various applications. High frequency fluctuations impact the signal-to-noise ratio, while slow variations can reduce the device repeatability or accuracy. Here we report experimental investigations on the power stabilization of a diode laser with an acousto-optic modulator. In the frequency domain the relative power noise is reduced at the level of $2.2\times 10^{-8}$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ in the range 1-100 kHz. The slow variations are studied in the time domain. The relative Allan standard deviation is measured at the level o…
We demonstrate acousto-optic phase modulators in X-cut lithium niobate films on sapphire, detailing the dependence of the piezoelectric and optomechanical coupling coefficients on the crystal orientation. This new platform supports highly confined, strongly piezoelectric mechanical waves without suspensions, making it a promising candidate for broadband and efficient integrated acousto-optic devices, circuits, and systems.
Optical computing with integrated photonics brings a pivotal paradigm shift to data-intensive computing technologies. However, the scaling of on-chip photonic architectures using spatially distributed schemes faces the challenge imposed by the fundamental limit of integration density. Synthetic dimensions of light offer the opportunity to extend the length of operand vectors within a single photonic component. Here, we show that large-scale, complex-valued matrix-vector multiplications on synthetic frequency lattices can be performed using an ultra-efficient, silicon-based nanophotonic cavity …
Electrically driven acousto-optic devices that provide beam deflection and optical frequency shifting have broad applications from pulse synthesis to heterodyne detection. Commercially available acousto-optic modulators are based on bulk materials and consume Watts of radio frequency power. Here, we demonstrate an integrated 3-GHz acousto-optic frequency shifter on thin-film lithium niobate, featuring a carrier suppression over 30 dB. Further, we demonstrate a gigahertz-spaced optical frequency comb featuring more than 200 lines over a 0.6-THz optical bandwidth by recirculating the light in an…
Acousto-optic interactions involving propagating phonons can break the time-reversal and frequency-modulation symmetry of light. However, conventional acousto-optic modulators based on bulk materials have frequency bandwidth limited to hundreds of megahertz due to their large structural sizes. Here, we experimentally demonstrate gigahertz single-sideband acousto-optic modulation on an etchless lithium niobate integrated platform by using photonic bound states in the continuum. The upper- or lower-sideband modulation of light can be obtained conveniently by choosing specific combinations of inp…
Optical isolators, while commonplace in bulk- and fiber-optic systems, remain a key missing component in integrated photonic systems. Isolation using magneto-optic effects has been difficult to implement due to fabrication restraints, motivating use of other non-reciprocal effects such as temporal modulation. We demonstrate a non-reciprocal modulator comprising a pair of microring modulators and a microring phase shifter in an active silicon photonic process which, in combination with standard frequency filters, facilitates isolation. Isolation up to 13 dB is measured with a 3 dB bandwidth of …
Candidate overtone shear horizontal SAW resonators in thin-film lithium niobate for intermodal acousto-optic modulation
Wangzhijiang Innovation Center for Laser, Aerospace Laser Technology and System Department, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所）；Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物质科学与光电技术研究院）；School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University（上海科技大学信息科学与技术学院）
We theoretically investigate the use of Rayleigh surface acoustic waves (SAWs) for refractive index modulation in optical waveguides consisting of amorphous dielectrics. Considering low-loss Si$_3$N$_4$ waveguides with a standard core cross section of 4.4$\times$0.03 $μ$m$^2$ size, buried 8 $μ$m deep in a SiO$_2$ cladding we compare surface acoustic wave generation in various different geometries via a piezo-active, lead zirconate titanate film placed on top of the surface and driven via an interdigitized transducer (IDT). Using numerical solutions of the acoustic and optical wave equations, w…
Microwave frequency acousto-optic modulation is realized by exciting high overtone bulk acoustic wave resonances (HBAR resonances) in the photonic stack. These confined mechanical stress waves transmit exhibit vertically transmitting, high quality factor (Q) acoustic Fabry Perot resonances that extend into the Gigahertz domain, and offer stress-optical interaction with the optical modes of the microresonator. Although HBAR are ubiquitously used in modern communication, and often exploited in superconducting circuits, this is the first time they have been incorporated on a photonic circuit base…
Photonic generation of radio-frequency signals has shown significant advantages over the electronic counterparts, allowing the high precision generation of radio-frequency carriers up to the terahertz-wave region with flexible bandwidth for radar applications. Great progress has been made in photonics-based radio-frequency waveform generation. However, the approaches that rely on sophisticated benchtop digital microwave components, such as synthesizers and digital-to-analog converters have limited achievable bandwidth and thus resolution for radar detections. Methods based on voltage-controlle…
Optical isolator is an indispensable component of almost any optical system and is used to protect a laser from unwanted reflections for phase-stable coherent operation. The development of chip-scale optical systems, powered by semiconductor lasers integrated on the same chip, has resulted in a need for a fully integrated optical isolator. However, conventional approaches based on application of magneto-optic materials to break the reciprocity and provide required isolation have significant challenges in terms of material processing and insertion loss. As a result, many magnetic-free approache…
