arXiv subjects

Eric A. Kittlaus

Publications and source records attributed to Eric A. Kittlaus.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Electrically-driven Acousto-optics and Broadband Non-reciprocity in Silicon Photonics

Emerging technologies based on tailorable interactions between photons and phonons promise new capabilities ranging from high-fidelity microwave signal processing to non-reciprocal optics and quantum state control. While such light-sound couplings have been studied in a variety of physical systems, many implementations rely on non-standard materials and fabrication schemes that are challenging to co-implement with standard integrated photonic circuitry. Notably, despite significant advances in integrated electro-optic modulators, related acousto-optic modulator concepts have remained relatively unexplored in silicon photonics. In this article, we demonstrate direct acousto-optic modulation within silicon waveguides using electrically-driven surface acoustic waves (SAWs). By co-integrating SAW transducers in piezoelectric AlN with a standard silicon-on-insulator photonic platform, we harness silicon's strong elasto-optic effect to mediate linear light-sound coupling. Through lithographic design, acousto-optic phase and single-sideband amplitude modulators in the range of 1-5 GHz are fabricated, exhibiting index modulation strengths comparable to existing electro-optic technologies. Extending this traveling-wave, acousto-optic interaction to cm-scales, we create electrically-driven non-reciprocal modulators in silicon. Non-reciprocal operation bandwidths of >100 GHz and insertion losses <0.6 dB are achieved. Building on these results, we show that unity-efficiency non-reciprocal modulation, necessary for a robust acousto-optic isolator, is within reach. The acousto-optic modulator design is compatible with both CMOS fabrication and existing silicon photonic device technologies. These results represent a promising new approach to implement compact and scalable acousto-optic modulators, frequency-shifters, and non-magnetic optical isolators and circulators in integrated photonic circuits.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Tunable RF-photonic filtering with high out-of-band rejection in silicon

The ever-increasing demand for high speed and large bandwidth has made photonic systems a leading candidate for the next generation of telecommunication and radar technologies. The photonic platform enables high performance while maintaining a small footprint and provides a natural interface with fiber optics for signal transmission. However, producing sharp, narrow-band filters that are competitive with RF components has remained challenging. In this paper, we demonstrate all-silicon RF-photonic multi-pole filters with $\sim100\times$ higher spectral resolution than previously possible in silicon photonics. This enhanced performance is achieved utilizing engineered Brillouin interactions to access long-lived phonons, greatly extending the available coherence times in silicon. This Brillouin-based optomechanical system enables ultra-narrow (3.5 MHz) multi-pole response that can be tuned over a wide ($\sim10$ GHz) spectral band. We accomplish this in an all-silicon optomechanical waveguide system, using CMOS compatible fabrication techniques. In addition to bringing greatly enhanced performance to silicon photonics, we demonstrate reliability and robustness, necessary to transition silicon-based optomechanical technologies from the scientific bench-top to high-impact field-deployable technologies.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Back-scatter immune injection-locked Brillouin laser in silicon

As self-sustained oscillators, lasers possess the unusual ability to spontaneously synchronize. These nonlinear dynamics are the basis for a simple yet powerful stabilization technique known as injection locking, in which a laser's frequency and phase can be controlled by an injected signal. Due to its inherent simplicity and favorable noise characteristics, injection locking has become a workhorse for coherent amplification and high-fidelity signal synthesis in applications ranging from precision atomic spectroscopy to distributed sensing. Within integrated photonics, however, these injection locking dynamics remain relatively untapped--despite significant potential for technological and scientific impact. Here, we demonstrate injection locking in a silicon photonic Brillouin laser for the first time. Injection locking of this monolithic device is remarkably robust, allowing us to tune the laser emission by a significant fraction of the Brillouin gain bandwidth. Harnessing these dynamics, we demonstrate amplification of small signals by more than 23 dB. Moreover, we demonstrate that the injection locking dynamics of this system are inherently nonreciprocal, yielding unidirectional control and back-scatter immunity in an all-silicon system. This device physics opens the door to new strategies for phase noise reduction, low-noise amplification, and back-scatter immunity in silicon photonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Microwave filtering using forward Brillouin scattering in photonic-phononic emit-receive devices

Microwave photonic systems are compelling for their ability to process signals at high frequencies and over extremely wide bandwidths as a basis for next generation communication and radar technologies. However, many applications also require narrow-band $(\sim\text{MHz})$ filtering operations that are challenging to implement using optical filtering techniques, as this requires reliable integration of ultra-high quality factor $(\sim 10^8)$ optical resonators. One way to address this challenge is to utilize long-lived acoustic resonances, taking advantage of their narrow-band frequency response to filter microwave signals. In this paper, we examine new strategies to harness a narrow-band acoustic response within a microwave-photonic signal processing platform through use of light-sound coupling. Our signal processing scheme is based on a recently demonstrated photon-phonon emitter-receiver device, which transfers information between the optical and acoustic domains using Brillouin interactions, and produces narrow-band filtering of a microwave signal. To understand the best way to use this device technology, we study the properties of a microwave-photonic link using this filtering scheme. We theoretically analyze the noise characteristics of this microwave-photonic link, and explore the parameter space for the design and optimization of such systems.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Shaping nonlinear optical response using nonlocal forward Brillouin interactions

We grow accustomed to the notion that optical susceptibilities can be treated as a local property of a medium. In the context of nonlinear optics, both Kerr and Raman processes are considered local, meaning that optical fields at one location do not produce a nonlinear response at distinct locations in space. This is because the electronic and phononic disturbances produced within the material are confined to a region that is smaller than an optical wavelength. By comparison, Brillouin interactions can result in a highly nonlocal nonlinear response, as the elastic waves generated through the Brillouin process can occupy a region in space much larger than an optical wavelength. The nonlocality of these interactions can be exploited to engineer new types of processes, where highly delocalized phonon modes serve as an engineerable channel that mediates scattering processes between light waves propagating in distinct optical waveguides. These types of nonlocal optomechanical responses have been recently demonstrated as the basis for information transduction, however the nontrivial dynamics of such systems has yet to be explored. In this work, we show that the third-order nonlinear process resulting from spatially extended Brillouin-active phonon modes involves mixing products from spatially separated, optically decoupled waveguides, yielding a nonlocal 'joint-susceptibility'. We further explore the coupling of multiple acoustic modes and show that multi-mode acoustic interference enables a tailorable nonlocal-nonlinear susceptibility, exhibiting a multi-pole frequency response.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Resonantly enhanced nonreciprocal silicon Brillouin amplifier

The ability to amplify light within silicon waveguides is central to the development of high-performance silicon photonic device technologies. To this end, the large optical nonlinearities made possible through stimulated Brillouin scattering offer a promising avenue for power-efficient all-silicon amplifiers, with recent demonstrations producing several dB of net amplification. However, scaling the degree of amplification to technologically compelling levels (>10 dB), necessary for everything from filtering to small signal detection, remains an important goal. Here, we significantly enhance the Brillouin amplification process by harnessing an inter-modal Brillouin interaction within a multi-spatial-mode silicon racetrack resonator. Using this approach, we demonstrate more than 20 dB of net Brillouin amplification in silicon, advancing state-of-the-art performance by a factor of 30. This degree of amplification is achieved with modest (~15 mW) continuous-wave pump powers and produces low out-of-band noise. Moreover, we show that this same system behaves as a unidirectional amplifier, providing more than 28 dB of optical nonreciprocity without insertion loss in an all-silicon platform. Building on these results, this device concept opens the door to new types of all-silicon injection-locked Brillouin lasers, high-performance photonic filters, and waveguide-compatible distributed optomechanical phenomena.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Multimode strong coupling in cavity optomechanics

Optomechanical systems show great potential as quantum transducers and information storage devices for use in future hybrid quantum networks and offer novel strategies for quantum state preparation to explore macroscopic quantum phenomena. Towards these goals, deterministic control of optomechanical interactions in the strong coupling regime represents an important strategy for efficient utilization of quantum degrees of freedom in mechanical systems. While strong coupling has been demonstrated in both electromechanical and optomechanical systems, it has proven difficult to identify a robust optomechanical system that features the low loss and high coupling rates required for more sophisticated control of mechanical motion. In this paper, we demonstrate robust strong coupling between multiple long-lived phonon modes of a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator and a single optical cavity mode. We show that this so-called "multimode strong coupling" regime can be a powerful tool to shape and control decoherence pathways through nontrivial forms of mode hybridization. Using frequency- and time-domain measurements, we identify hybridized modes with lifetimes that are significantly longer than that of any mode of the uncoupled system. This surprising effect, which results from the interference of decay channels, showcases the use of multimode strong coupling as a general strategy to mitigate extrinsic loss mechanisms. Moreover, the phonons supported by BAW resonators have a collection of properties, including high frequencies, long coherence times, and robustness against thermal decoherence, making this optomechanical system particularly enticing for applications such as quantum transduction and memories. These results show that our system can be used to study novel phenomena in a previously unexplored regime of optomechanics and could be an important building block for future quantum devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

A silicon Brillouin laser

Brillouin laser oscillators offer powerful and flexible dynamics as the basis for mode-locked lasers, microwave oscillators, and optical gyroscopes in a variety of optical systems. However, Brillouin interactions are exceedingly weak in conventional silicon photonic waveguides, stifling progress towards silicon-based Brillouin lasers. The recent advent of hybrid photonic-phononic waveguides has revealed Brillouin interactions to be one of the strongest and most tailorable nonlinearities in silicon. Here, we harness these engineered nonlinearities to demonstrate Brillouin lasing in silicon. Moreover, we show that this silicon-based Brillouin laser enters an intriguing regime of dynamics, in which optical self-oscillation produces phonon linewidth narrowing. Our results provide a platform to develop a range of applications for monolithic integration within silicon photonic circuits.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

High-frequency cavity optomechanics using bulk acoustic phonons

To date, micro- and nano-scale optomechanical systems have enabled many proof-of-principle quantum operations through access to high-frequency (GHz) phonon modes that are readily cooled to their thermal ground state. However, minuscule amounts of absorbed light produce excessive heating that can jeopardize robust ground state operation within such microstructures. In contrast, we demonstrate an alternative strategy for accessing high-frequency ($13$ GHz) phonons within macroscopic systems (cm-scale). Counterintuitively, we show that these macroscopic systems, with motional masses that are $>20$ million times larger than those of micro-scale counterparts, offer a complementary path towards robust quantum operations. Utilizing bulk acoustic phonons to mediate resonant coupling between two distinct modes of an optical cavity, we demonstrate the ability to perform beam-splitter and entanglement operations at MHz rates on an array of phonon modes, opening doors to applications ranging from quantum memories and microwave-to-optical conversion to high-power laser oscillators.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Nonreciprocal Inter-band Brillouin Modulation

Achieving nonreciprocal light propagation in photonic circuits is essential to control signal crosstalk and optical back-scatter. However, realizing high-fidelity nonreciprocity in low-loss integrated photonic systems remains challenging. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a device concept based on nonlocal acousto-optic light scattering to produce nonreciprocal single-sideband modulation and mode conversion in an integrated silicon photonic platform. In this process, a traveling-wave acoustic phonon driven via optical forces in a silicon waveguide is used to modulate light in a spatially separate waveguide through a linear inter-band Brillouin scattering process. We demonstrate up to 38 dB of nonreciprocity with 37 dB of single-sideband suppression. In contrast to prior Brillouin- and optomechanics-based schemes for nonreciprocity, the bandwidth of this scattering process is set through optical phase-matching, not acoustic or optical resonances. As a result, record-large bandwidths in excess of 125 GHz are realized, with potential for significant further improvement through optical dispersion engineering. Tunability of the nonreciprocal modulator operation wavelength over a 35 nm bandwidth is demonstrated by varying the optical pump wavelength. Such traveling-wave acousto-optic modulators provide a promising path toward the realization of broadband, low-loss isolators and circulators in integrated photonic circuits.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Optomechanical cooling in a continuous system

Radiation-pressure-induced optomechanical coupling permits exquisite control of micro- and mesoscopic mechanical oscillators. This ability to manipulate and even damp mechanical motion with light---a process known as dynamical backaction cooling---has become the basis for a range of novel phenomena within the burgeoning field of cavity optomechanics, spanning from dissipation engineering to quantum state preparation. As this field moves toward more complex systems and dynamics, there has been growing interest in the prospect of cooling traveling-wave phonons in continuous optomechanical waveguides. Here, we demonstrate optomechanical cooling in a continuous system for the first time. By leveraging the dispersive symmetry breaking produced by inter-modal Brillouin scattering, we achieve continuous mode optomechanical cooling in an extended 2.3-cm silicon waveguide, reducing the temperature of a band of traveling-wave phonons by more than 30 K from room temperature. This work reveals that optomechanical cooling is possible in macroscopic linear waveguide systems without an optical cavity or discrete acoustic modes. Moreover, through an intriguing type of wavevector-resolved phonon spectroscopy, we show that this system permits optomechanical control over continuously accessible groups of phonons and produces a new form of nonreciprocal reservoir engineering. Beyond this study, this work represents a first step towards a range of novel classical and quantum traveling-wave operations in continuous optomechanical systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Integrated RF-photonic Filters via Photonic-Phononic Emit-Receive Operations

The creation of high-performance narrowband filters is of great interest for many RF-signal processing applications. To this end, numerous schemes for electronic, MEMS-based, and microwave photonic filters have been demonstrated. Filtering schemes based on microwave photonic systems offer superior flexibility and tunability to traditional RF filters. However, these optical-based filters are typically limited to GHz-widths and often have large RF insertion losses, posing challenges for integration into high-fidelity radiofrequency circuits. In this article, we demonstrate a novel type of microwave filter that combines the attractive features of microwave photonic filters with high-Q phononic signal processing using a photonic-phononic emit-receive process. Through this process, a RF signal encoded on a guided optical wave is transduced onto a GHz-frequency acoustic wave, where it may be filtered through shaping of acoustic transfer functions before being re-encoded onto a spatially separate optical probe. This emit-receive functionality, realized in an integrated silicon waveguide, produces MHz-bandwidth band-pass filtering while supporting low RF insertion losses necessary for high dynamic range in a microwave photonic link. We also demonstrate record-high internal efficiency for emit-receive operations of this type, and show that the emit-receive operation is uniquely suitable for the creation of serial filter banks with minimal loss of fidelity. This photonic-phononic emitter-receiver represents a new method for low-distortion signal-processing in an integrated all-silicon device.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2016

On-chip Inter-modal Brillouin Scattering

Stimulated Brillouin interactions mediate nonlinear coupling between photons and acoustic phonons through an optomechanical three-wave interaction. Though these nonlinearities were previously very weak in silicon photonic systems, the recent emergence of new optomechanical waveguide structures have transformed Brillouin processes into one of the strongest and most tailorable on-chip nonlinear interactions. New technologies based on Brillouin couplings have formed a basis for amplification, filtering, and nonreciprocal signal processing techniques. In this paper, we demonstrate strong guided-wave Brillouin scattering between light fields guided in distinct spatial modes of a silicon waveguide for the first time. This inter-modal coupling creates dispersive symmetry breaking between Stokes and anti-Stokes processes, permitting single-sideband amplification and wave dynamics that permit near-unity power conversion. Combining these physics with integrated mode-multiplexers enables novel device topologies and eliminates the need for optical circulators or narrowband spectral filtering to separate pump and signal waves as in traditional Brillouin processes. We demonstrate 3.5 dB of optical gain, over 2.3 dB of net amplification, and 50% single-sideband energy transfer between two optical modes in a pure silicon waveguide, expanding the design space for flexible on-chip light sources, amplifiers, nonreciprocal devices, and signal processing technologies.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Large Brillouin Amplification in Silicon

Strong Brillouin coupling has only recently been realized in silicon using a new class of optomechanical waveguides that yield both optical and phononic confinement. Despite these major advances, appreciable Brillouin amplification has yet to be observed in silicon. Using a new membrane-suspended silicon waveguide we report large Brillouin amplification for the first time, reaching levels greater than 5 dB for modest pump powers, and demonstrate a record low (5 mW) threshold for net amplification. This work represents a crucial advance necessary to realize high-performance Brillouin lasers and amplifiers in silicon.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Rapid diffusion of electrons in GaMnAs

We report ultrafast transient-grating measurements, above and below the Curie temperature, of the dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As containing 6% Mn. At 80 K (15 K), we observe that photoexcited electrons in the conduction band have a lifetime of 8 ps (5 ps) and diffuse at about 70 cm2/s (60 cm2/s). Such rapid diffusion requires either an electronic mobility exceeding 7,700 cm2/Vs or a conduction-band effective mass less than half the GaAs value. Our data suggest that neither the scattering rate nor the effective mass of the (Ga,Mn)As conduction band differs significantly from that of GaAs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Diffusion of degenerate minority carriers in a p-type semiconductor

We report ultrafast transient-grating experiments on heavily p-type InP at 15 K. Our measurement reveals the dynamics and diffusion of photoexcited electrons and holes as a function of their density n in the range 2E16 to 6E17 cm-3. After the first few picoseconds the grating decays primarily due to ambipolar diffusion. While at low density we observe a regime in which the ambipolar diffusion is electron-dominated and increases rapidly with n, at high n it appears to saturate at 34 cm2/s. We present a simple calculation that reproduces the main results of our measurements as well as of previously published measurements that had shown diffusion to be a flat or decreasing function of n. By accounting for effect of density on charge susceptibility we show that, in p-type semiconductors, the regime we observe of increasing ambipolar diffusion is unique to heavy doping and low temperature, where both the holes and electrons are degenerate; in this regime the electronic and ambipolar diffusion are nearly equal. The saturation is identified as a crossover to ambipolar diffusion dominated by the majority carriers, the holes. At short times the transient-grating signal rises gradually. This rise reveals cooling of hot electrons and, at high photocarrier density, allows us to measure ambipolar diffusion of 110 cm2/s in the hot-carrier regime.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗