Spin-Momentum-Locked Edge Mode for Topological Vortex Lasing.

Spin-momentum locking is a direct consequence of bulk topological order and provides a basic concept to control a carrier's spin and charge flow for new exotic phenomena in condensed matter physics. However, up to date the research on spin-momentum locking solely focuses on its in-plane transport properties. Here, we report an emerging out-of-plane radiation feature of spin-momentum locking in a non-Hermitian topological photonic system and demonstrate a high performance topological vortex laser based on it. We find that the gain saturation effect lifts the degeneracy of the paired counterpropagating spin-momentum-locked edge modes enabling lasing from a single topological edge mode. The near-field spin and orbital angular momentum of the topological edge mode lasing has a one-to-one far-field radiation correspondence. The methodology of probing the near-field topology feature by far-field lasing emission can be used to study other exotic phenomena. The device can lead to applications in superresolution imaging, optical tweezers, free-space optical sensing, and communication.

All-dielectric metasurface grating for on-chip multi-channel orbital angular momentum generation and detection.

Optical vortices, carrying quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM) states, have been widely investigated because of their promising applications in both classical and quantum realms. Among these applications, efficient generation and measurement of OAM beams are critical. Current techniques available for generating OAM beams generally suffer from bulky size, low operation efficiency, or single-function or complicated fabrication processes. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach to generate arbitrary optical vortices with a chip-scale device based on all-dielectric two-dimensional (2D) polarization-independent metasurface grating. Based on multi-beam interference in principle and nanofabrication techniques for implementation, our device allows efficient and simultaneous on-chip generation of multi-channel beams with different OAM. We further demonstrate that our device can also work reversely in detecting the OAM spectrum of various pure and mixed optical vortices (e.g., fractional OAM orders) with low crosstalk. Our scheme may find potential applications in developing new integrated photonics for OAM-based high-dimensional quantum information processing in future quantum network.

On-chip switchable radially and azimuthally polarized vortex beam generation.

Cylindrical vector vortex (CVV) beams, complex light fields that exhibit a vector nature and carry quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM) states, have been widely investigated due to their rich applications. Current technologies to generate CVV beams using individual polarization and spatial phase manipulations suffer from bulky size and low configurability. In this Letter, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach to generate CVV beams with a single integrated device based on a silicon nitride microring resonator and embedded top-gratings. The device allows the manipulation of both the polarization and OAM degrees of freedom of light, and enables the generation of both radially and azimuthally polarized CVV beams. In addition, we develop a method to fabricate the devices of shallow-etched top-gratings with only one-step etching. To the best of our knowledge, this novel method provides new capabilities to develop on-chip integrated devices with great ease and flexibility.

High-efficiency wideband SiNx-on-SOI grating coupler with low fabrication complexity.

The chip-fiber grating coupler is a fundamental building block in integrated photonics, providing convenient on-wafer testing and packaging. Couplers based on a silicon nitride (SiNx) material platform can achieve wider bandwidths than silicon-based couplers, but suffer from lower efficiency due to the relative low material refractive index. The efficiency of the SiNx grating coupler can be improved by using high-reflectivity silicon grating reflectors underneath. However, such a silicon grating reflector requires several fabrication steps, including lithography, etching, high precision alignment (HPA), and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In this Letter, we demonstrate an easy-to-fabricate SiNx-on-SOI transverse-electric mode grating coupler requiring only one patterning step (grating alone), and without the need for HPA and CMP. A coupling coefficient of -2.5 dB and 1-dB-bandwidth of 65 nm has been experimentally measured.

Ultra-low temperature silicon nitride photonic integration platform.

High-quality SiNx films with controllable low stress and low optical loss are deposited at ultra-low temperature (75 °C) using inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). Two kinds of integrated photonic structures have been demonstrated that exemplify its viability as a photonic integration platform. A microcavity consists of two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) formed by alternating a total of 49 layers of SiNx and SiO2 with a total thickness of about 11.5 µm is grown without any cracks, confirming the excellent stress control in the process. Microring resonators are also fabricated in as-deposited planar SiNx waveguide layer using electron-beam lithography (EBL) and plasma etching. Average waveguide loss of 0.79 ± 0.22 dB/cm has been achieved in the range of 1550-1600 nm for ring radii larger than 40 µm. The ultra-low temperature grown SiNx with properties of low loss and low stress is therefore a promising photonic integration platform for various photonic integration applications.

Realizing topological edge states in a silicon nitride microring-based photonic integrated circuit.

Topological edge states in a photonic integrated circuit based on the platform of silicon nitride are demonstrated with a two-dimensional coupled resonator optical waveguide array involving the synthetic magnetic field for photons at near-infrared wavelengths. Measurements indicate that the topological edge states can be observed at certain wavelengths, with light travelling around the boundary of the array. Combined with the induced disorders in fabrication near the edge, the system shows the defect immunity under the topological protection of edge states.

Twisted lattice nanocavity with theoretical quality factor exceeding 200 billion.

Simultaneous localization of light to extreme spatial and spectral scales is of high importance for testing fundamental physics and various applications. However, there is a longstanding trade-off between localizing a light field in space and in frequency. Here we discover a new class of twisted lattice nanocavities based on mode locking in momentum space. The twisted lattice nanocavity hosts a strongly localized light field in a 0.048 λ3 mode volume with a quality factor exceeding 2.9 × 1011 (∼250 µs photon lifetime), which presents a record high figure of merit of light localization among all reported optical cavities. Based on the discovery, we have demonstrated silicon-based twisted lattice nanocavities with quality factor over 1 million. Our result provides a powerful platform to study light-matter interaction in extreme conditions for tests of fundamental physics and applications in nanolasing, ultrasensing, nonlinear optics, optomechanics and quantum-optical devices.

Magic-angle lasers in nanostructured moiré superlattice.

Conventional laser cavities require discontinuity of material property or disorder to localize a light field for feedback. Recently, an emerging class of materials, twisted van der Waals materials, have been explored for applications in electronics and photonics. Here we propose and develop magic-angle lasers, where the localization is realized in periodic twisted photonic graphene superlattices. We reveal that the confinement mechanism of magic-angle lasers does not rely on a full bandgap but on the mode coupling between two twisted layers of photonic graphene lattice. Without any fine-tuning in structure parameters, a simple twist can result in nanocavities with strong field confinement and a high quality factor. Furthermore, the emissions of magic-angle lasers allow direct imaging of the wavefunctions of magic-angle states. Our work provides a robust platform to construct high-quality nanocavities for nanolasers, nano light-emitting diodes, nonlinear optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics at the nanoscale.

A high-performance topological bulk laser based on band-inversion-induced reflection.

Topological insulators are materials that behave as insulators in the bulk and as conductors at the edge or surface due to the particular configuration of their bulk band dispersion. However, up to date possible practical applications of this band topology on materials' bulk properties have remained abstract. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a topological bulk laser. We pattern semiconductor nanodisk arrays to form a photonic crystal cavity showing topological band inversion between its interior and cladding area. In-plane light waves are reflected at topological edges forming an effective cavity feedback for lasing. This band-inversion-induced reflection mechanism induces single-mode lasing with directional vertical emission. Our topological bulk laser works at room temperature and reaches the practical requirements in terms of cavity size, threshold, linewidth, side-mode suppression ratio and directionality for most practical applications according to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and other industry standards. We believe this bulk topological effect will have applications in near-field spectroscopy, solid-state lighting, free-space optical sensing and communication.

Spin-orbit interaction of light induced by transverse spin angular momentum engineering.

The investigations on optical angular momenta and their interactions have broadened our knowledge of light's behavior at sub-wavelength scales. Recent studies further unveil the extraordinary characteristics of transverse spin angular momentum in confined light fields and orbital angular momentum in optical vortices. Here we demonstrate a direct interaction between these two intrinsic quantities of light. By engineering the transverse spin in the evanescent wave of a whispering-gallery-mode-based optical vortex emitter, a spin-orbit interaction is observed in generated vortex beams. Inversely, this unconventional spin-orbit interplay further gives rise to an enhanced spin-direction locking effect in which waveguide modes are unidirectionally excited, with the directionality jointly controlled by the spin and orbital angular momenta states of light. The identification of this previously unknown pathway between the polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of light enriches the spin-orbit interaction phenomena, and can enable various functionalities in applications such as communications and quantum information processing.