铌酸锂薄膜调制器的研究进展

刘海锋; 郭宏杰; 谭满清; 李智勇

doi:10.37188/CO.2021-0115

Volume 15 Issue 1

Jan. 2022

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Chinese Optics > 2022 > 15(1): 1-13.

LIU Hai-feng, GUO Hong-jie, TAN Man-qing, LI Zhi-yong. Research progress of lithium niobate thin-film modulators[J]. Chinese Optics, 2022, 15(1): 1-13. doi: 10.37188/CO.2021-0115

Citation:

LIU Hai-feng, GUO Hong-jie, TAN Man-qing, LI Zhi-yong. Research progress of lithium niobate thin-film modulators[J]. Chinese Optics, 2022, 15(1): 1-13. doi: 10.37188/CO.2021-0115

LIU Hai-feng, GUO Hong-jie, TAN Man-qing, LI Zhi-yong. Research progress of lithium niobate thin-film modulators[J]. Chinese Optics, 2022, 15(1): 1-13. doi: 10.37188/CO.2021-0115

Citation:

LIU Hai-feng, GUO Hong-jie, TAN Man-qing, LI Zhi-yong. Research progress of lithium niobate thin-film modulators[J]. Chinese Optics, 2022, 15(1): 1-13. doi: 10.37188/CO.2021-0115

PDF( 3910 KB)

Research progress of lithium niobate thin-film modulators

doi: 10.37188/CO.2021-0115

LIU Hai-feng^1
,,
GUO Hong-jie^{1, 2
,},
TAN Man-qing^{1, 2
,
,},
LI Zhi-yong¹

1.
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China
2.
College of Materials Science and Opto-electronics Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Funds: Supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2019YFB2203802); National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61934007)

More Information

Corresponding author: mqtan@semi.ac.cn
Received Date: 24 May 2021
Rev Recd Date: 25 Jun 2021

Available Online: 16 Oct 2021

Publish Date: 19 Jan 2022

Abstract

Abstract

Electro-optic modulators based on lithium niobate (LiNbO₃, LN) thin-film platforms are advantageous for their small volume, high bandwidth and low half-wave voltage. They have important application prospects in the field of optical fiber communication and optical fiber sensing, and thus have became a heavily researched topic in recent years. In this paper, the research progress of the waveguide structures, coupling structures and electrode structures of LN thin-film modulators are reviewed in detail. The fabrication process of a LN thin-film waveguide is summarized, and the performances of different modulator structures are analyzed. Based on SOI and LNOI, a platform modulator is realized with V_πL<2 V∙cm, a bilayer inversely tapered coupling scheme achieves a coupling loss <0.5 dB/facet , and a traveling wave electrode structure achieves a modulation bandwidth >100 GHz. Thin-film LN modulators are better than commercial LN modulators in most aspects. It can be predicted that in the near future, with the further improvement in waveguide technology, thin-film LN will become a popular scheme of LN modulators. Finally, the potential directions for the future of their research are proposed.
- lithium niobate thin-film,
- LNOI,
- electro-optic modulator

FullText(HTML)

References(83)

References

[1]	WOOTEN E L, KISSA K M, YI-YAN A, et al. A review of lithium niobate modulators for fiber-optic communications systems[J]. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 2000, 6(1): 69-82. doi: 10.1109/2944.826874
[2]	TENG M, HONARDOOST A, ALAHMADI Y, et al. Miniaturized silicon photonics devices for integrated optical signal processors[J]. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2020, 38(1): 6-17. doi: 10.1109/JLT.2019.2943251
[3]	SUN CH, WADE M T, LEE Y, et al. Single-chip microprocessor that communicates directly using light[J]. Nature, 2015, 528(7583): 534-538. doi: 10.1038/nature16454
[4]	OGISO Y, OZAKI J, UEDA Y, et al. Over 67 GHz bandwidth and 1.5 V V_π InP-based optical IQ modulator with n-i-p-n heterostructure[J]. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2017, 35(8): 1450-1455. doi: 10.1109/JLT.2016.2639542
[5]	KOEBER S, PALMER R, LAUERMANN M, et al. Femtojoule electro-optic modulation using a silicon-organic hybrid device[J]. Light:Science &Applications, 2015, 4(2): e255.
[6]	HAFFNER C, CHELLADURAI D, FEDORYSHYN Y, et al. Low-loss plasmon-assisted electro-optic modulator[J]. Nature, 2018, 556(7702): 483-486. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0031-4
[7]	GUTIERREZ A M, GALAN J V, HERRERA J, et al. . High linear ring-assisted MZI electro-optic silicon modulators suitable for radio-over-fiber applications[C]. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Group IV Photonics (GFP), IEEE, 2012: 57-59.
[8]	陈柄言, 于永吉, 吴春婷, 等. 窄线宽1064 nm光纤激光泵浦高效率中红外3.8 μm MgO: PPLN光参量振荡器[J]. 中国光学,2021,14(2):361-367. doi: 10.37188/CO.2020-0169 CHEN B Y, YU Y J, WU CH T, et al. High efficiency mid-infrared 3.8 μm MgO: PPLN optical parametric oscillator pumped by narrow linewidth 1064 nm fiber laser[J]. Chinese Optics, 2021, 14(2): 361-367. (in Chinese) doi: 10.37188/CO.2020-0169
[9]	Srico. Lithium niobate modulator[EB/OL]. [2021-08-31].https://www.srico.com/products/.
[10]	Optilab. Lithium niobate modulator[EB/OL]. [2021-08-31].https://www.optilab.com/optical-modulator.
[11]	EOspace. Lithium niobate modulator[EB/OL]. [2021-08-31].https://www.eospace.com/product-summary-modulator.
[12]	WEIGEL P O, ZHAO J, FANG K, et al. Bonded thin film lithium niobate modulator on a silicon photonics platform exceeding 100 GHz 3-dB electrical modulation bandwidth[J]. Optics Express, 2018, 26(18): 23728-23739. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.023728
[13]	WANG X X, WEIGEL P O, ZHAO J, et al. Achieving beyond-100-GHz large-signal modulation bandwidth in hybrid silicon photonics Mach Zehnder modulators using thin film lithium niobate[J]. APL Photonics, 2019, 4(9): 096101. doi: 10.1063/1.5115243
[14]	LI M X, LIANG H X, LUO R, et al. High‐Q 2D lithium niobate photonic crystal slab nanoresonators[J]. Laser &Photonics Reviews, 2019, 13(5): 1800228.
[15]	LI M X, LIANG H X, LUO R, et al. Photon-level tuning of photonic nanocavities[J]. Optica, 2019, 6(7): 860-863. doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.6.000860
[16]	QIAO Q F, XIA J, LEE C, et al. Applications of photonic crystal nanobeam cavities for sensing[J]. Micromachines, 2018, 9(11): 541. doi: 10.3390/mi9110541
[17]	李天琦, 毛小洁, 雷健, 等. 固体激光器与光纤激光器对光子晶体光纤棒耦合的分析与对比[J]. 中国光学,2018,11(6):958-973. doi: 10.3788/co.20181106.0958 LI T Q, MAO X J, LEI J, et al. Analysis and comparison of solid-state lasers and fiber lasers on the coupling of rod-type photonic crystal fiber[J]. Chinese Optics, 2018, 11(6): 958-973. (in Chinese) doi: 10.3788/co.20181106.0958
[18]	史光辉. 半导体激光耦合新方法[J]. 中国光学,2013,6(3):343-352. SHI G H. Improved method for semiconductor laser coupling[J]. Chinese Optics, 2013, 6(3): 343-352. (in Chinese)
[19]	SON G, HAN S, PARK J, et al. High-efficiency broadband light coupling between optical fibers and photonic integrated circuits[J]. Nanophotonics, 2018, 7(12): 1845-1864. doi: 10.1515/nanoph-2018-0075
[20]	HONARDOOST A, GONZALEZ G F C, KHAN S, et al. Cascaded integration of optical waveguides with third-order nonlinearity with lithium niobate waveguides on silicon substrates[J]. IEEE Photonics Journal, 2018, 10(3): 4500909.
[21]	LI Y, LAN T, LI J, et al. High-efficiency edge-coupling based on lithium niobate on an insulator wire waveguide[J]. Applied Optics, 2020, 59(22): 6694-6701. doi: 10.1364/AO.395897
[22]	KRASNOKUTSKA I, TAMBASCO J L J, PERUZZO A. Nanostructuring of LNOI for efficient edge coupling[J]. Optics Express, 2019, 27(12): 16578-16585. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.016578
[23]	LIU D N, FENG L SH, JIA Y Z, et al. Heterogeneous integration of LN and Si₃N₄ waveguides using an optical interlayer coupler[J]. Optics Communications, 2019, 436: 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.optcom.2018.11.058
[24]	HE L Y, ZHANG M, SHAMS-ANSARI A, et al. Low-loss fiber-to-chip interface for lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits[J]. Optics Letters, 2019, 44(9): 2314-2317. doi: 10.1364/OL.44.002314
[25]	YING P, TAN H Y, ZHANG J W, et al. Low-loss edge-coupling thin-film lithium niobate modulator with an efficient phase shifter[J]. Optics Letters, 2021, 46(6): 1478-1481. doi: 10.1364/OL.418996
[26]	KRASNOKUTSKA I, CHAPMAN R J, TAMBASCO J L J, et al. High coupling efficiency grating couplers on lithium niobate on insulator[J]. Optics Express, 2019, 27(13): 17681-17685. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.017681
[27]	MAHMOUD M, CAI L T, BOTTENFIELD C, et al. Lithium niobate electro-optic racetrack modulator etched in Y-Cut LNOI platform[J]. IEEE Photonics Journal, 2018, 10(1): 6600410.
[28]	YAO N, ZHOU J X, GAO R H, et al. Efficient light coupling between an ultra-low loss lithium niobate waveguide and an adiabatically tapered single mode optical fiber[J]. Optics Express, 2020, 28(8): 12416-12423. doi: 10.1364/OE.391228
[29]	WANG M K, LI J H, CHEN K X, et al. Thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator on a D-shaped fiber[J]. Optics Express, 2020, 28(15): 21464-21473. doi: 10.1364/OE.396613
[30]	ALFERNESS R C. Waveguide electrooptic modulators[J]. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 1982, 30(8): 1121-1137. doi: 10.1109/TMTT.1982.1131213
[31]	BINH L N. Tilted traveling wave electrodes and impacts on high-speed operation of integrated electro-optic modulators: modeling and experimental demonstration[J]. Optical Engineering, 2009, 48(9): 097005. doi: 10.1117/1.3231504
[32]	YANG D C, CHEN Y K, XIANG M H, et al. Traveling wave electrode design for a LiNbO₃ integrated optical switch[J]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2019, 11334: 113341B.
[33]	GEE A, JAAFAR A H, KEMP N T. Nanoscale junctions for single molecule electronics fabricated using bilayer nanoimprint lithography combined with feedback controlled electromigration[J]. Nanotechnology, 2020, 31(15): 155203. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab6473
[34]	AIDIL S A, NUZAIHAN M N M, ARSHAD M K, et al. . Fabrication and characterization of poly-Si nanowire with Thin Film of Ni/Au contact pad using conventional photolithography[C]. Proceedings of 2019 IEEE International Conference on Sensors and Nanotechnology, IEEE, 2019: 29-32.
[35]	KUBOTA K, NODA J, MIKAMI O. Traveling wave optical modulator using a directional coupler LiNbO3waveguide[J]. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1980, 16(7): 754-760. doi: 10.1109/JQE.1980.1070563
[36]	LEVY M, RADOJEVIC A M. Single-crystal lithium niobate films by crystal ion slicing[M]. ALEXE M, GÖSELE U. Wafer Bonding: Applications and Technology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2004: 417-450.
[37]	RAO A, FATHPOUR S. Compact lithium niobate electrooptic modulators[J]. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 2018, 24(4): 3400114.
[38]	HU H, GUI L, RICKEN R, et al. Towards nonlinear photonic wires in lithium niobate[J]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2010, 7604: 76040R. doi: 10.1117/12.842674
[39]	POBERAJ G, KOECHLIN M, SULSER F, et al. Ion-sliced lithium niobate thin films for active photonic devices[J]. Optical Materials, 2009, 31(7): 1054-1058. doi: 10.1016/j.optmat.2007.12.019
[40]	TAKIGAWA R, ASANO T. Thin-film lithium niobate-on-insulator waveguides fabricated on silicon wafer by room-temperature bonding method with silicon nanoadhesive layer[J]. Optics Express, 2018, 26(19): 24413-24421. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.024413
[41]	HOWLADER M M R, SUGA T, KIM M J. Room temperature bonding of silicon and lithium niobate[J]. Applied Physics Letters, 2006, 89(3): 031914. doi: 10.1063/1.2229262
[42]	LEE Y S, KIM G D, KIM W J, et al. Hybrid Si-LiNbO₃ microring electro-optically tunable resonators for active photonic devices[J]. Optics Letters, 2011, 36(7): 1119-1121. doi: 10.1364/OL.36.001119
[43]	ARIZMENDI L. Photonic applications of lithium niobate crystals[J]. Physica Status Solidi (A), 2004, 201(2): 253-283. doi: 10.1002/pssa.200303911
[44]	YU J, ZHANG CH X, LI CH SH, et al. Influence of polarization-dependent crosstalk on scale factor in the in-line Sagnac interferometer current sensor[J]. Optical Engineering, 2013, 52(11): 117101. doi: 10.1117/1.OE.52.11.117101
[45]	PAZ‐PUJALT G R, TUSCHEL D D, BRAUNSTEIN G, et al. Characterization of proton exchange lithium niobate waveguides[J]. Journal of Applied Physics, 1994, 76(7): 3981-3987. doi: 10.1063/1.358495
[46]	PALIWAL A, SHARMA A, GUO R Y, et al. Electro-optic (EO) effect in proton-exchanged lithium niobate: towards EO modulator[J]. Applied Physics B, 2019, 125(7): 115. doi: 10.1007/s00340-019-7227-7
[47]	HAN H P, XIANG B X, LIN T, et al. Design and optimization of proton exchanged integrated electro-optic modulators in X-Cut lithium niobate thin film[J]. Crystals, 2019, 9(11): 549. doi: 10.3390/cryst9110549
[48]	ULLIAC G, GUICHARDAZ B, RAUCH J Y, et al. Ultra-smooth LiNbO₃ micro and nano structures for photonic applications[J]. Microelectronic Engineering, 2011, 88(8): 2417-2419. doi: 10.1016/j.mee.2011.02.024
[49]	WANG CH, ZHANG M, STERN B, et al. Nanophotonic lithium niobate electro-optic modulators[J]. Optics Express, 2018, 26(2): 1547-1555. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.001547
[50]	KRASNOKUTSKA I, TAMBASCO J L J, LI X J, et al. Ultra-low loss photonic circuits in lithium niobate on insulator[J]. Optics Express, 2018, 26(2): 897-904. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.000897
[51]	WANG J, BO F, WAN SH, et al. High-Q lithium niobate microdisk resonators on a chip for efficient electro-optic modulation[J]. Optics Express, 2015, 23(18): 23072-23078. doi: 10.1364/OE.23.023072
[52]	WANG M, WU R B, LIN J T, et al. Chemo‐mechanical polish lithography: a pathway to low loss large‐scale photonic integration on lithium niobate on insulator[J]. Quantum Engineering, 2019, 1(1): e9. doi: 10.1002/que2.9
[53]	ZHANG J H, FANG ZH W, LIN J T, et al. Fabrication of crystalline microresonators of high quality factors with a controllable wedge angle on lithium niobate on insulator[J]. Nanomaterials (Basel), 2019, 9(9): 1218. doi: 10.3390/nano9091218
[54]	HU H, RICKEN R, SOHLER W, et al. Lithium niobate ridge waveguides fabricated by wet etching[J]. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2007, 19(6): 417-419. doi: 10.1109/LPT.2007.892886
[55]	ULLIAC G, CALERO V, NDAO A, et al. Argon plasma inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching study for smooth sidewall thin film lithium niobate waveguide application[J]. Optical Materials, 2016, 53: 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.optmat.2015.12.040
[56]	张琨, 岳远斌, 李彤, 等. 感应耦合等离子体刻蚀在聚合物光波导制作中的应用[J]. 中国光学,2012,5(1):64-70. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-1531.2012.01.010 ZHANG K, YUE Y B, LI T, et al. Application of ICP etching in fabrication of polymer optical waveguide[J]. Chinese Optics, 2012, 5(1): 64-70. (in Chinese) doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-1531.2012.01.010
[57]	WANG CH, ZHANG M, CHEN X, et al. Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators operating at CMOS-compatible voltages[J]. Nature, 2018, 562(7725): 101-104. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0551-y
[58]	WU R B, WANG M, XU J, et al. Long low-loss-litium niobate on insulator waveguides with sub-nanometer surface roughness[J]. Nanomaterials (Basel), 2018, 8(11): 910. doi: 10.3390/nano8110910
[59]	LIN J T, XU Y X, FANG Z W, et al. Fabrication of high-Q lithium niobate microresonators using femtosecond laser micromachining[J]. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5(1): 8072.
[60]	RÜTER C E, SUNTSOV S, KIP D, et al. Characterization of diced ridge waveguides in pure and Er-doped lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) substrates[J]. Proceedings of SPIE, 2014, 8982: 89821G.
[61]	VOLK M F, SUNTSOV S, RÜTER C E, et al. Low loss ridge waveguides in lithium niobate thin films by optical grade diamond blade dicing[J]. Optics Express, 2016, 24(2): 1386-1391. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.001386
[62]	AHMED A N R, NELAN S, SHI SH Y, et al. Subvolt electro-optical modulator on thin-film lithium niobate and silicon nitride hybrid platform[J]. Optics Letters, 2020, 45(5): 1112-1115. doi: 10.1364/OL.381892
[63]	SOLER M, SCHOLTZ A, ZETO R, et al. Engineering photonics solutions for COVID-19[J]. APL Photonics, 2020, 5(9): 090901. doi: 10.1063/5.0021270
[64]	HONARDOOST A, JUNEGHANI F A, SAFIAN R, et al. Towards subterahertz bandwidth ultracompact lithium niobate electrooptic modulators[J]. Optics Express, 2019, 27(5): 6495-6501. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.006495
[65]	AHMED A N R, SHI SH Y, MERCANTE A J, et al. High-performance racetrack resonator in silicon nitride - thin film lithium niobate hybrid platform[J]. Optics Express, 2019, 27(21): 30741-30751. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.030741
[66]	JIN T N, ZHOU J CH, LIN P T. Mid-infrared electro-optical modulation using monolithically integrated titanium dioxide on lithium niobate optical waveguides[J]. Scientific Reports, 2019, 9(1): 15130. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51563-5
[67]	RABIEI P, MA J CH, KHAN S, et al. Heterogeneous lithium niobate photonics on silicon substrates[J]. Optics Express, 2013, 21(21): 25573-25581. doi: 10.1364/OE.21.025573
[68]	RAO A, PATIL A, CHILES J, et al. Heterogeneous microring and Mach-Zehnder modulators based on lithium niobate and chalcogenide glasses on silicon[J]. Optics Express, 2015, 23(17): 22746-22752. doi: 10.1364/OE.23.022746
[69]	LI SH, CAI L T, WANG Y W, et al. Waveguides consisting of single-crystal lithium niobate thin film and oxidized titanium stripe[J]. Optics Express, 2015, 23(19): 24212-24219. doi: 10.1364/OE.23.024212
[70]	LIU Y, LI H, LIU J, et al. Low V_π thin-film lithium niobate modulator fabricated with photolithography[J]. Optics Express, 2021, 29(5): 6320-6329. doi: 10.1364/OE.414250
[71]	AHMED A N R, SHI SH Y, MERCANTE A, et al. High-efficiency lithium niobate modulator for K band operation[J]. APL Photonics, 2020, 5(9): 091302. doi: 10.1063/5.0020040
[72]	XU M Y, HE M B, ZHANG H G, et al. High-performance coherent optical modulators based on thin-film lithium niobate platform[J]. Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1): 3911. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17806-0
[73]	HAN H P, XIANG B X. Integrated electro-optic modulators in x-cut lithium niobate thin film[J]. Optik, 2020, 212: 164691. doi: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2020.164691
[74]	DESIATOV B, SHAMS-ANSARI A, ZHANG M, et al. Ultra-low-loss integrated visible photonics using thin-film lithium niobate[J]. Optica, 2019, 6(3): 380-384. doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.6.000380
[75]	HE M B, XU M Y, REN Y X, et al. High-performance hybrid silicon and lithium niobate Mach–Zehnder modulators for 100 Gbit s⁻¹ and beyond[J]. Nature Photonics, 2019, 13(5): 359-364. doi: 10.1038/s41566-019-0378-6
[76]	XU M Y, CHEN W J, HE M B, et al. Michelson interferometer modulator based on hybrid silicon and lithium niobate platform[J]. APL Photonics, 2019, 4(10): 100802. doi: 10.1063/1.5115136
[77]	JIAN J, XU M Y, LIU L, et al. High modulation efficiency lithium niobate Michelson interferometer modulator[J]. Optics Express, 2019, 27(13): 18731-18739. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.018731
[78]	CAI L T, KANG Y, HU H. Electric-optical property of the proton exchanged phase modulator in single-crystal lithium niobate thin film[J]. Optics Express, 2016, 24(5): 4640-4647. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.004640
[79]	LI M X, LING J W, HE Y, et al. Lithium niobate photonic-crystal electro-optic modulator[J]. Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1): 4123. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17950-7
[80]	BAHADORI M, YANG Y S, HASSANIEN A E, et al. Ultra-efficient and fully isotropic monolithic microring modulators in a thin-film lithium niobate photonics platform[J]. Optics Express, 2020, 28(20): 29644-29661. doi: 10.1364/OE.400413
[81]	KRASNOKUTSKA I, TAMBASCO J L J, PERUZZO A. Tunable large free spectral range microring resonators in lithium niobate on insulator[J]. Scientific Reports, 2019, 9(1): 11086. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-47231-3
[82]	JIN SH L, XU L T, ZHANG H H, et al. LiNbO₃ Thin-film modulators using silicon nitride surface ridge waveguides[J]. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2016, 28(7): 736-739. doi: 10.1109/LPT.2015.2507136
[83]	REN T H, ZHANG M, WANG CH, et al. An integrated low-voltage broadband lithium niobate phase modulator[J]. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2019, 31(11): 889-892. doi: 10.1109/LPT.2019.2911876