Gallium phosphide on insulator for nanophotonics and quantum technologies

Tobias Bucher; Otto Arnold; Muyi Yang; Zifei Zhang; Katsuya Tanaka; Annkathrin Köhler; Berit Marx-Glowna; Duk-Yong Choi; Isabelle Staude; Carsten Ronning

arXiv · 2608.02328

Gallium phosphide on insulator for nanophotonics and quantum technologies

Tobias Bucher·Otto Arnold·Muyi Yang·Zifei Zhang·Katsuya Tanaka·Annkathrin Köhler·Berit Marx-Glowna·Duk-Yong Choi·Isabelle Staude·Carsten Ronning

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Abstract

Gallium phosphide is a promising material platform for visible and near-infrared photonics and quantum technologies owing to its high refractive index, low optical absorption, and strong second-order nonlinearity. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of GaP-on-insulator substrates by ion slicing. The splitting depth and exfoliation behavior of bulk GaP are tailored by controlling the He$^{+}$ ion implantation energy and fluence, enabling thin-film transfer onto amorphous substrates by anodic bonding and plasma-enhanced direct wafer bonding. Channeling Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and X-ray diffraction confirm that the transferred layers retain their single-crystalline structure, while implantation-induced disorder and optical absorption are substantially reduced by annealing at 500 {\deg}C and subsequent polishing. The annealed films exhibit linear optical properties approaching those of bulk GaP. In addition, a (110)-oriented GaP thin film shows the characteristic polarization dependence expected from the zinc-blende second-order nonlinear susceptibility tensor, demonstrating a near-pristine second-order nonlinear response. This flexible fabrication approach enables the integration of high-quality single-crystalline GaP with variable orientation for free-space and integrated nanophotonics as well as nonlinear and quantum optical devices.

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Tobias Bucher, Otto Arnold, Muyi Yang, Zifei Zhang, Katsuya Tanaka, Annkathrin Köhler, Berit Marx-Glowna, Duk-Yong Choi, Isabelle Staude, Carsten Ronning. 2026-08-03. Gallium phosphide on insulator for nanophotonics and quantum technologies. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.02328

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