Bridging ultra-high-Q devices and photonic circuits

Abstract

Optical microcavities are essential in numerous technologies and scientific disciplines. However, their application in many areas relies exclusively upon discrete microcavities in order to satisfy challenging combinations of ultra-low-loss performance (high cavity-Q-factor) and cavity design requirements. Indeed, finding a microfabrication bridge connecting ultra-high-Q device functions with micro and nanophotonic circuits has been a long-term priority of the microcavity field. Here, an integrated ridge resonator having a record Q factor over 200 million is presented. Its ultra-low-loss and flexible cavity design brings performance that has been the exclusive domain of discrete silica and crytalline microcavity devices to integrated systems. Two distinctly different devices are demonstrated: soliton sources with electronic repetition rates and high-coherence Brillouin lasers. This multi-device capability and performance from a single integrated cavity platform represents a critical advance for future nanophotonic circuits and systems.

(1) Added Fig.4 to show high-coherence Brillouin lasing using the integrated resonator; (2) Added system illustrations (Fig. 1a); (3) Changed title of paper to reflect demonstrations of both low-repetition-rate soliton mode locking and Brillouin laser using the integrated resonator; (4) Fig. 6 added in Methods to describe resonator-to-waveguide phase-matching control; (5) Other minor changes