Piezoelectric MEMS Phase Modulator for Silicon Nitride Platform in the Visible Spectrum

Abstract

Active photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in the visible spectrum are essential for on-chip applications, requiring low-loss waveguides with broad transparency and efficient, low-power phase modulation. Here, we demonstrate a compact, ultra-low-power phase modulator based on a silicon nitride (Si${}_3$N${}_4$) waveguide integrated with thin-film lead zirconate titanate (PZT) that actuates a bridge-type MEMS. The suspended actuator exploits PZT's strong piezoelectric effect to induce mechanically driven phase shifts, enabling efficient modulation in a Mach--Zehnder interferometer. For 3~mm and 5~mm modulators, phase shifts of $1.45\ddot{I}€$ and $2.5\ddot{I}€$ are achieved at 10~V, corresponding to a scalability metric ($V_{\ddot{I}}€\cdot L$) of 2.25~V$\cdot$cm at 635~nm. This represents an order-of-magnitude improvement in scalability over stress-optic PZT modulators. The devices also exhibit ultralow power consumption ($\sim 12\mathrm{nW}$), $\sim 5\mathrm{ms}$ rise time, and optical loss $<0.75dB/cm$. Furthermore, we demonstrate on-chip beam shaping.