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arXiv · 1907.08593

Microwave-to-optical conversion using lithium niobate thin-film acoustic resonators

Linbo Shao·Mengjie Yu·Smarak Maity·Neil Sinclair·Lu Zheng·Cleaven Chia·Amirhassan Shams-Ansari·Cheng Wang·Mian Zhang·Keji Lai·Marko Loncar
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Abstract

We demonstrate conversion of up to 4.5 GHz-frequency microwaves to 1500 nm-wavelength light using optomechanical interactions on suspended thin-film lithium niobate. Our method utilizes an interdigital transducer that drives a free-standing 100 $μ$m-long thin-film acoustic resonator to modulate light travelling in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer or racetrack cavity. Owing to the strong microwave-to-acoustic coupling offered by the transducer in conjunction with the strong photoelastic, piezoelectric, and electro-optic effects of lithium niobate, we achieve a half-wave voltage of $V_π$ = 4.6 V and $V_π$ = 0.77 V for the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and racetrack resonator, respectively. The acousto-optic racetrack cavity exhibits an optomechancial single-photon coupling strength of 1.1 kHz. Our integrated nanophotonic platform coherently leverages the compelling properties of lithium niobate to achieve microwave-to-optical transduction. To highlight the versatility of our system, we also demonstrate a lossless microwave photonic link, which refers to a 0 dB microwave power transmission over an optical channel.

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Linbo Shao, Mengjie Yu, Smarak Maity, Neil Sinclair, Lu Zheng, Cleaven Chia, Amirhassan Shams-Ansari, Cheng Wang, Mian Zhang, Keji Lai, Marko Loncar. 2019-07-11. Microwave-to-optical conversion using lithium niobate thin-film acoustic resonators. https://doi.org/10.1364/optica.6.001498

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