Deuterated silicon dioxide for heterogeneous integration of ultra-low-loss waveguides.

Ultra-low-loss waveguide fabrication typically requires high-temperature annealing beyond 1000°C to reduce the hydrogen content in deposited dielectric films. However, realizing the full potential of an ultra-low loss will require the integration of active materials that cannot tolerate high temperature. Uniting ultra-low-loss waveguides with on-chip sources, modulators, and detectors will require a low-temperature, low-loss dielectric to serve as a passivation and spacer layers for complex fabrication processes. We report a 250°C deuterated silicon dioxide film for top cladding in ultra-low-loss waveguides. Using multiple techniques, we measure propagation loss below 12 dB/m for the entire 1200-1650 nm range and top-cladding material absorption below 1 dB/m in the S, C, and L bands.

Continuous wave-pumped wavelength conversion in low-loss silicon nitride waveguides.

In this Letter we introduce a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible low-loss Si3N4 waveguide platform for nonlinear integrated optics. The waveguide has a moderate nonlinear coefficient of 285 W/km, but the achieved propagation loss of only 0.06 dB/cm and the ability to handle high optical power facilitate an optimal waveguide length for wavelength conversion. We observe a constant quadratic dependence of the four-wave mixing (FWM) process on the continuous-wave (CW) pump when operating in the C-band, which indicates that the waveguide has negligible high-power constraints owing to nonlinear losses. We achieve a conversion efficiency of -26.1 dB and idler power generation of -19.6 dBm. With these characteristics, we present for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, CW-pumped data conversion in a non-resonant Si3N4 waveguide.

Fano resonances in a multimode waveguide coupled to a high-Q silicon nitride ring resonator.

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) optical ring resonators provide exceptional opportunities for low-loss integrated optics. Here we study the transmission through a multimode waveguide coupled to a Si3N4 ring resonator. By coupling single-mode fibers to both input and output ports of the waveguide we selectively excite and probe combinations of modes in the waveguide. Strong asymmetric Fano resonances are observed and the degree of asymmetry can be tuned through the positions of the input and output fibers. The Fano resonance results from the interference between modes of the waveguide and light that couples resonantly to the ring resonator. We develop a theoretical model based on the coupled mode theory to describe the experimental results. The large extension of the optical modes out of the Si3N4 core makes this system promising for sensing applications.

Silicon on ultra-low-loss waveguide photonic integration platform.

We demonstrate a novel integrated silicon and ultra-low-loss Si3N4 waveguide platform. Coupling between layers is achieved with (0.4 ± 0.2) dB of loss per transition and a 20 nm 3-dB bandwidth for one tapered coupler design and with (0.8 ± 0.2) dB of loss per transition and a 100 nm 3-dB bandwidth for another. The minimum propagation loss measured in the ultra-low-loss waveguides is 1.2 dB/m in the 1590 nm wavelength regime.

Sidewall gratings in ultra-low-loss Si3N4 planar waveguides.

We demonstrate sidewall gratings in an ultra-low-loss Si3N4 planar waveguide platform. Through proper geometrical design we can achieve coupling constant values between 13 and 310 cm(-1). The TE waveguide propagation loss over the range of 1540 to 1570 nm is below 5.5 dB/m.

Ultra-high quality factor planar Si3N4 ring resonators on Si substrates.

We demonstrate planar Si3N4 ring resonators with ultra-high quality factors (Q) of 19 million, 28 million, and 7 million at 1060 nm, 1310 nm, and 1550 nm, respectively. By integrating the ultra-low-loss Si3N4 ring resonators with laterally offset planar waveguide directional couplers, optical add-drop and notch filters are demonstrated to have ultra-narrow bandwidths of 16 MHz, 38 MHz, and 300 MHz at 1060 nm, 1310 nm, and 1550 nm, respectively. These are the highest Qs reported for ring resonators with planar directional couplers, and ultra-narrowband microwave photonic filters can be realized based on these high-Q ring resonators.

Low-loss Si3N4 arrayed-waveguide grating (de)multiplexer using nano-core optical waveguides.

A 16-channel 200 GHz arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) (de)-multiplexer is demonstrated experimentally by utilizing Si3N4 buried optical waveguides, which have 50 nm-thick Si3N4 cores and a 15 µm-thick SiO2 cladding. The structure with an ultra-thin core layer helps to reduce the scattering due to the sidewall roughness and consequently shows very low loss of about 0.4~0.8 dB/m. When using this type of optical waveguide for an AWG (de)multiplexer, there is no problem associated with gap refill using the upper-cladding material even when choosing a small (e.g., 1.0 µm) gap between adjacent arrayed waveguides, which helps to reduce the transition loss between the FPR (free-propagation region) and the arrayed waveguides. Therefore, the demonstrated AWG (de)multiplexer based on the present Si3N4 buried optical waveguides has a low on-chip loss. The fabricated AWG (de)multiplexer is characterized in two wavelength ranges around 1310 nm and 1550 nm, respectively. It shows that the crosstalk from adjacent and non-adjacent channels are about -30 dB, and -40 dB, respectively, at the wavelength range of 1310 nm. The Si3N4 AWG (de)multiplexer has a temperature dependence of about 0.011 nm/°C, which is close to that of a pure SiO2 AWG device.

Ultra-low-loss high-aspect-ratio Si3N4 waveguides.

We characterize an approach to make ultra-low-loss waveguides using stable and reproducible stoichiometric Si3N4 deposited with low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. Using a high-aspect-ratio core geometry, record low losses of 8-9 dB/m for a 0.5 mm bend radius down to 3 dB/m for a 2 mm bend radius are measured with ring resonator and optical frequency domain reflectometry techniques. From a waveguide loss model that agrees well with experimental results, we project that 0.1 dB/m total propagation loss is achievable at a 7 mm bend radius with this approach.

Planar waveguides with less than 0.1 dB/m propagation loss fabricated with wafer bonding.

We demonstrate a wafer-bonded silica-on-silicon planar waveguide platform with record low total propagation loss of (0.045 ± 0.04) dB/m near the free space wavelength of 1580 nm. Using coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry, we characterize the group index, fiber-to-chip coupling loss, critical bend radius, and propagation loss of these waveguides.

Ultra-low loss Si3N4 waveguides with low nonlinearity and high power handling capability.

We investigate the nonlinearity of ultra-low loss Si3N4-core and SiO2-cladding rectangular waveguides. The nonlinearity is modeled using Maxwell's wave equation with a small amount of refractive index perturbation. Effective n2 is used to describe the third-order nonlinearity, which is linearly proportional to the optical intensity. The effective n2 measured using continuous-wave self-phase modulation shows agreement with the theoretical calculation. The waveguide with 2.8-µm wide and 80-nm thick Si3N4 core has low loss and high power handling capability, with an effective n2 of about 9×10(-16) cm2/W.