Sub-1 Volt and High-Bandwidth Visible to Near-Infrared Electro-Optic Modulators

Abstract

Integrated electro-optic (EO) modulators are fundamental photonics components with utility in domains ranging from digital communications to quantum information processing. At telecommunication wavelengths, thin-film lithium niobate modulators exhibit state-of-the-art performance in voltage-length product ($V_{\pi }$L), optical loss, and EO bandwidth. However, applications in optical imaging, optogenetics, and quantum science generally require devices operating in the visible-to-near-infrared (VNIR) wavelength range. In this work, we realize VNIR amplitude and phase modulators featuring $V_{\pi }$L's of sub-1 V$\cdot$cm, low optical loss, and high bandwidth EO response. Our Mach-Zehnder modulators exhibit a $V_{\pi }$L as low as 0.55 V$\cdot$cm at 738 nm, and EO bandwidths in excess of 35 GHz. Furthermore, we highlight the new opportunities these high-performance modulators offer by demonstrating the first integrated EO frequency combs at VNIR wavelengths, with over 50 lines and tunable spacing, and the first frequency shifting of pulsed light beyond its intrinsic bandwidth (up to 7x Fourier limit) by an EO shearing method.

11 pages, 4 figures

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• Monolithic Ultrahigh-Q Lithium Niobate Microring Resonator
• Integrated micro-comb sources for quantum optical applications
• A solid-state entangled photon pair source with high brightness and indistinguishability
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• Frequency-encoded photonic qubits for scalable quantum information processing
• High-Q optical nanocavities in bulk single-crystal diamond
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• Spectrally separable photon-pair generation in dispersion engineered thin-film lithium niobate
• High-bandwidth CMOS-voltage-level electro-optic modulation of 780 nm light in thin-film lithium niobate

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• Extremely high extinction ratio electro-optic modulator via frequency upconversion to visible wavelengths
• Towards Global Quantum Key Distribution
• Construction of various time-dependent Hamiltonians on a single photonic chip
• A Programmable and Reconfigurable Photonic Simulator for Classical XY Models
• Ultrashort-pulse-pumped, single-mode type-0 squeezers in lithium niobate nanophotonics