Microresonator photonic wire bond integration for Kerr-microcomb generation
Extremely high-Q microresonators provide an attractive platform for a plethora of photonic applications including optical frequency combs, high-precision metrology, telecommunication, microwave generation, narrow linewidth lasers, and stable frequency references. Moreover, the desire for compactness and a low power threshold for nonlinear phenomena have spurred investigation into integrated and scalable solutions. Historically, crystalline microresonators with Q ∼ 10<sup>9</sup> were one of the first material platforms providing unprecedented optical performance in a small form factor. A key challenge, though, with these devices is in finding alternatives to fragile, bulky, and free-space couplers, such as tapered fibers, prisms, and cleaved fibers. Here, we present for the first time, the evanescent coupling of a photonic wire bond (PWB) to a MgF<sub>2</sub>-based microresonator to generate solitons and a pure, low-noise microwave signal based on Kerr-microcombs. These results open a path towards scalable integration of crystalline microresonators with integrated photonics. Moreover, because PWBs possess advantages over traditional coupling elements in terms of ease of fabrication, size, and flexibility, they constitute a more advanced optical interface for linear and nonlinear photonics.
Authors
- Lou Kanger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9935-0347)
- Mike Nelson
- Mackenzie Van Camp
- Brian Mattis
- Juergen Musolf
- Z. Burkley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1534-2949)
- Steven Eugene Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5013-6382)
- Galen Hoffman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9552-5464)
- Gordon Morrison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-7218)
- Charles J. Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0579-2540)
- Taran Huffman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4232-2820)
- Henry E. Garrett
- Thien-An Nguyen
- Yanne K. Chembo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8375-0020)
- Thomas T. Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1978-7486)
- Farzad Mokhtari Koushyar
- Alain Yuji Takabayashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1654-6636)
- Nikolay G. Pavlov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7507-9433)
- Victoria Rosborough (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6163-9244)
- J. D. Jost
- Maxim Karpov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9304-3936)
- Leif Johansson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6379-0359)
Institutions
- GTx (United States) (US)
- BAE Systems (Sweden) (SE)
- BAE Systems (United States) (US)
- Freedom Photonics (United States) (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2024-11-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79945-4
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.34
Funders
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Defense Sciences Office, DARPA