Ultra-broadband, Low-loss Wavelength Combiners and Filters: Novel Designs and Experiments in Thin-film Lithium Niobate

Abstract

Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has emerged as a leading platform for large-scale programmable photonic circuits for quantum and classical applications. As circuits scale in complexity, low-loss routing of broadband pump and signal fields becomes essential. Here, we present closed-form analytical models and experimentally demonstrate compact, fast-quasi-adiabatic driving-optimized wavelength combiners and filters operating at the fundamental harmonic (FH, 1550 nm) and second-harmonic (SH, 775 nm) wavelengths. Our designs achieve ultra-low loss below 0.06 dB across a 90 nm bandwidth at FH, while maintaining extinction ratios exceeding 25 dB. At SH, the loss remains below 0.12 dB over a 45 nm bandwidth with extinction ratios greater than 19 dB. Devices fabricated on a 300-nm TFLN platform exhibit added loss below 0.1 dB across 1550 - 1600 nm, with minimum values of 0.04 dB around 1580 nm and 0.021 dB at 775 nm. Combined with recent advances in on-chip quantum state generation, low-loss interferometers, and detection, these results enable high-fidelity quantum photonic circuits on the TFLN platform.