arXiv subjects

Lingling Qiao

Publications and source records attributed to Lingling Qiao.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Highly-efficient, narrow-linewidth Brillouin microlasers implemented in compact thin-film lithium niobate microresonators

Stimulated Brillouin microlasers offer chip-scale light sources with high spectral purity and low phase noise--key attributes for applications spanning precision metrology, quantum technologies, and coherent information processing. However, simultaneously bringing both pump and scattered waves into resonance often compromises photon confinement or modal volume, resulting in limited conversion efficiency and elevated thresholds. In this work, a novel approach is proposed to generate Brillouin microlasers with high efficiency, low threshold, and narrow linewidth, by combining a cross-polarized stimulated Brillouin scattering scheme with intentional Stokes mode splitting to compensate for mode detuning. Triple-resonance and phase-matching conditions are simultaneously achieved in a 114-um-diameter thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) microresonator, enabling precise alignment with both the ~10-GHz Brillouin shift and the ~100-MHz narrow gain bandwidth. The resulting Brillouin microlaser achieves a narrow intrinsic linewidth of 2.88 Hz, a short-term integral linewidth of 185 Hz, an on-chip conversion efficiency of 57.92%, and a pump threshold as low as 1.03 mW. Both the conversion efficiency and the lasing threshold represent record-high performance for the TFLN platform to date.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Monolithic tantalum pentoxide microrings with intrinsic Q factors exceeding 4X10(6)

Tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5), as a silicon-photonic-compatible material platform, has garnered significant attention for high-performance integrated photonics due to its exceptional properties: a broad transparency window spanning from 0.28 um to 8 um, a moderate refractive index of 2.05 at 1550 nm, and an impressive nonlinear refractive index of 7.2X10^(-19) m^2/W. Despite these advantages, achieving low-loss fabrication of monolithic microrings on the Ta2O5 platform remains challenging due to its inherent hardness and brittleness, which often result in rough sidewalls and significant scattering losses. In this work, we successfully demonstrated monolithic Ta2O5 microring resonators with exceptionally high intrinsic and loaded quality (Q) factors. This was accomplished through the innovative application of photolithography-assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE) technology. By optimizing the coupling region between the microring and the bus waveguide, as well as meticulously controlling surface roughness during fabrication, we achieved near-critical coupling in the resulting microrings. The devices exhibited loaded Q factors of 2.74X10(6) in the telecom band without employing expensive electron-beam lithography, showing an intrinsic Q factor as high as 4.47X10(6) and a low propagation loss of only 0.0732 dB/cm - representing the highest results reported for strongly confined Ta2O5-based microring resonators to date. This work paves the way for the development of advanced photonic devices on the Ta2O5 platform with low manufacturing cost, including low-threshold microlasers, highly sensitive sensors, broad bandwidth supercontinuum sources, and optical frequency combs.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Highly efficient multi-chromatic Raman microlasers from cavity polygon modes on thin-film lithium niobate platform

The integration of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and second order nonlinearity in non-centrosymmetric photonic microresonators presents a highly promising solution for developing on-chip coherent light sources with exceptional bandwidth and flexible tunability. Our study introduces an innovative methodology leveraging cavity polygon modes within an X-cut thin-film lithium niobate microdisk to achieve highly efficient multi-chromatic Raman microlasers. Specifically, high-Q square modes characterized by two parallel sides oriented perpendicularly relative to the optical axis of lithium niobate crystal were excited. These modes offer distinct advantages, including enhancing both mode-field overlap and improved phase matching, achieved through the utilization of the largest second-order susceptibility component (d_33), which is critical for Raman-quadratic nonlinear interactions. The experimental results highlight significant advancements in multi-wavelength multi-wavelength laser generation, with forward stimulated Raman laser signals exhibiting a high conversion efficiency of up to 65.02% and an impressively narrow integral linewidth of only 5.2 kHz. Simultaneously, our system enables the generation of multi-wavelength Raman-quadratic laser signals across the ~800 nm and ~530 nm spectral bands. These findings are further underscored by an impressive absolute conversion efficiency of 1.33% for the 797.4-nm Raman laser, achieved at a remarkably low pump power of just 1.07 mW. This work not only extends the application scope of cavity polygon modes from single second/third-order nonlinear optical processes to cascaded processes but also establishes a foundation for realizing high-efficiency on-chip multi-chromatic laser sources with versatile functionalities.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Simultaneous generation of Raman-assisted Soliton Microcombs and Tunable Multi-chromatic Raman Microlasers in Single Monolithic Thin-film Lithium Niobate Microrings

High-performance integrated broadband coherent light sources are essential for advanced applications in high-bandwidth data processing and chip-scale metrology, yet remain challenging. In this study, we demonstrate a monolithic Z-cut lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) microring platform that enables simultaneous generation of tunable multi-chromatic microlasers and Raman-assisted soliton microcombs. Exploiting the strong Raman activity and high second-order nonlinearity of LNOI, we engineered a dispersion-optimized microring with a loaded Q factor of 3.86X10^6, facilitating on-chip efficient broadband coherent light source. A novel phase-matching configuration with all the waves of the same ordinary polarization was realized for the first time in this platform, feasibly enabling modal-phase matched Raman-quadratic nonlinear processes that extend lasing signals into the visible spectrum. Under continuous-wave laser pumping at 3.73 mW in the telecom band, we achieved a Raman-assisted soliton comb centered at 1624.49 nm with record-low pump threshold on the LNOI platform. Concurrently, multi-chromatic Raman lasing outputs were observed at ~1700, ~813, and ~535 nm within the same microring. The system exhibited efficient wavelength tuning of these multi-chromatic laser signals through a 5 nm shift in pump wavelength. This work represents a significant advance in integrated photonics for versatile optical signal generation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Low-loss thin-film periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides fabricated by femtosecond laser photolithography

Periodically poled lithium niobate on insulator (PPLNOI) ridge waveguides are critical photonic components for both classical and quantum information processing. However, dry etching of PPLNOI waveguides often generates rough sidewalls and variations in the etching rates of oppositely poled lithium niobate ferroelectric domains, leading a relatively high propagation losses (0.25 - 1 dB/cm), which significantly limits net conversion efficiency and hinders scalable photonic integration. In this work, a low-loss PPLNOI ridge waveguide with a length of 7 mm was fabricated using ultra-smooth sidewalls through photolithography-assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE) followed by high-voltage pulse poling with low cost. The average surface roughness was measured at just 0.27 nm, resulting in record-low propagation loss of 0.106 dB/cm in PPLNOI waveguides. Highly efficient second-harmonic generation was demonstrated with a normalized efficiency of 1643%/(W*cm^2) without temperature tuning, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 805%/W, which is closed to the best conversion efficiency (i.e., 814%/W) reported in nanophotonic PPLNOI waveguide fabricated by expensive electron-beam lithography followed by dry etching. The absolute conversion efficiency reached 15.8% at a pump level of 21.6 mW. And the normalized efficiency can be even improved to 1742%/(W*cm^2) at optimal temperature of 59°C.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Efficient transverse multi-wave interactions up to six-wave mixing in a high-Q lithium niobate microresonator

High-order nonlinear optical processes beyond four-wave mixing serve as fundamental tools for advancing photonic technologies, yet their practical implementation remains challenging due to stringent phase-matching requirements and inherently weak high-order nonlinear susceptibilities - limitations that persist even in state-of-the-art high-Q microresonators. In this work, we demonstrate a breakthrough in synthesizing transverse nonlinear processes up to six-wave mixing in an integrated lithium niobate microresonator, under single continuous-wave (CW) telecom-band laser pump. Our approach leverages self-organized subwavelength photorefractive gratings (SPGs) generated through bidirectional stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) process in the microresonator, without using two external counterpropagating lasers. Under 1546 nm pumping, bidirectional SRS at 1713 nm creates two counterpropagating light waves that spontaneously form SPGs. These SPGs critically enable broadband phase-matching compensation across 500 nm spectral range by providing additional momentum matching for transverse nonlinear processes while maintaining ultrahigh-Q factor. Moreover, cascaded SRS process is simultaneously activated to generate light signal for subsequent nonlinear interactions. This novel approach enables, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of single-pump phase-matched transverse sum-frequency generation (SFG) with record conversion efficiency (590%/W). Furthermore, transverse multi-wave mixing processes from four-wave to six-wave mixing processes are achieved with high conversion efficiencies for the first time using only the single CW pump, representing a notable advance in nonlinear integration.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Second harmonic generation with 48% conversion efficiency from cavity polygon modes in a monocrystalline lithium niobate microdisk resonator

Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) based optical microresonators offer large nonlinear coefficient d_33 and high light-wave confinement, allowing highly efficient second-order optical nonlinear frequency conversion. Here, we achieved ultra-efficiency second harmonic generation (SHG) from high-Q polygon modes by maximizing the utilization of the highest nonlinear coefficient d_33 in a monocrystalline X-cut TFLN microdisk resonator for the first time. The polygon modes are designed and formed with two parallel sides perpendicular to the optical axis of the lithium niobate crystal by introducing weak perturbations into the microdisk of a tapered fiber, which maximizes the utilization of d_33. The polygon modes exhibit ultrahigh intrinsic Q factors of ~3.86X10(7), due to the fact that polygon modes are located far from the relatively rough sidewall of the microdisk. Moreover, the pump and second harmonic polygon modes share high modal overlap factor of ~80%. Consequently, SHG from cavity polygon modes with absolute conversion efficiency as high as 48.08% was realized at an on-chip pump level of only 4.599 mW without fine domain structures, surpassing the best results (23% and 30%) reported in other two domain-inversion-free phase matching schemes and even approaching the record (52%) in PPLN microresonators.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Integrated multi-color Raman microlasers with ultra-low pump levels in single high-Q lithium niobate microdisks

Photonic integrated Raman microlasers, particularly discrete multi-color lasers which are crucial for extending the emission wavelength range of chip-scale laser sources to much shorter wavelength, are highly in demand for various spectroscopy, microscopy analysis, and biological detection. However, integrated multi-color Raman microlasers have yet to be demonstrated because of the requirement of high-Q microresonators possessing large second-order nonlinearity and strong Raman phonon branches and the challenging in cavity-enhanced multi-photon hyper-Raman scattering parametric process. In this work, integrated multi-color Raman lasers have been demonstrated for the first time at weak pump levels, via the excitation of high-Q (>6 X 10^6) phase-matched modes in single thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) microresonators by dispersion engineering. Raman lasing was observed at 1712 nm for a 1546-nm pump threshold power of only 620 uW. Furthermore, multi-color Raman lasers were realized at discrete wavelengths of 1712 nm, 813 nm, 533 nm and 406 nm with pump levels as low as 1.60 mW, which is more than two order of magnitude lower than the current records (i.e., 200 mW) in bulk resonators, allowed by the fulfillment of the requisite conditions consisting of broadband natural phase match, multiple-resonance and high Q-factors.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Erbium-ytterbium co-doped lithium niobate single-mode microdisk laser with an ultralow threshold of 1 uW

We demonstrate single-mode microdisk lasers in the telecom band with ultra-low thresholds on erbium-ytterbium co-doped thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN). The active microdisk were fabricated with high-Q factors by photo-lithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching. Thanks to the erbium-ytterbium co-doping providing high optical gain, the ultra-low loss nanostructuring, and the excitation of high-Q coherent polygon modes which suppresses multi-mode lasing and allows high spatial mode overlap factor between pump and lasing modes, single-mode laser emission operating at 1530 nm wavelength was observed with an ultra-low threshold, under 980-nm-band optical pump. The threshold was measured as low as 1 uW, which is one order of magnitude smaller than the best results previously reported in single-mode active TFLN microlasers. And the conversion efficiency reaches 0.406%, which is also the highest value reported in single-mode active TFLN microlasers.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Generation of Kerr soliton microcomb in a normally dispersed lithium niobate microdisk resonator by mode trimming

Anomalous microresonator dispersion is mandatory for Kerr soliton microcomb formation, which depends critically on the geometry of the microresonator and can hardly be tuned after the structure is made. To date, cavity-based microcombs have only been generated with fundamental whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of anomalous dispersion in microresonators. Moreover, microcomb generation in highly Raman-active platforms such as lithium niobate (LN) microresonators frequently suffers from stimulated Raman scattering and mode crossing due to the existence of multiple families of high-order WGMs. Here, we reveal a unique Kerr soliton microcomb generation mechanism through mode trimming in a weakly perturbed LN microdisk resonator. Remarkably, the soliton comb is generated with fundamental WGMs of normal dispersion and free from the mode crossing and Raman scattering effects. A robust soliton with a spectrum spanning from 1450 nm to 1620 nm at an on-chip pump power of 35 mW. Our discovery offers a powerful solution to circumvent the stringent requirements on high-precision dispersion engineering and termination of Raman excitation for soliton generation in the high-Q microdisk.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Ultra-high Q lithium niobate microring monolithically fabricated by photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching

Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has been considered as one of the most important platforms for constructing high-performance photonic integrated devices such as electro-optic modulators, frequency combs, classical/quantum light sources, and large-scale photonic integrated circuits, benefiting from its excellent optical properties of TFLN. The fabrication quality of TFLN photonic integrated devices plays an important role in the performance and the integration scale of these devices. As one of the element photonic structures, the state-of-the-art TFLN microrings reach an intrinsic Q factor higher than 10^7 with ultra-smooth sidewalls, fabricated by photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE). However, it is isolated on the chip surface and a tapered fiber is required to couple the light into and out of the resonator. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain such high-Q factors when the microrings are monolithically integrated with bus waveguides by PLACE, resulted from large coupling loss with biggish coupling gap. Here, a relatively narrow gap of an ultra-high Q microring monolithically integrated with the bus-waveguide is achieved with 3.8 um by optimizing PLACE process, and a high temperature annealing is carried out to improve the loaded (intrinsic) Q factor with 4.29 X 10^6 (4.04 X 10^7), leading an ultra-low propagation loss of less than 1 dB/m, which is approximately 3 times better than the best values previously reported in ion-slicing TFLN platform.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Monolithically integrated high-power narrow-bandwidth microdisk laser

Integrated on-chip microdisk lasers have attracted great attention as a light source of compact size, low lasing threshold and narrow bandwidth. However, challenges remain unresolved in terms of single mode operation at high output power while maintaining the ultra-narrow bandwidth. In this work, we demonstrate monolithically integrated on-chip single-frequency microdisk lasers coupled with bus-waveguides fabricated by photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching. Owing to the high-Q factor of a polygon whispering gallery mode formed in the microdisk and long cavity lengths (e.g., 409 um and 1 mm), a microdisk laser with a narrow linewidth of 0.11 MHz and a maximum output power of 62.1 uW has been achieved at room temperature.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Modes trimming and clustering in a weakly perturbed high-Q whispering gallery microresonator

In general, a high-Q microresonator can accommodate abundant whispering gallery modes (WGMs) with the mode number increasing with the dimensional sizes of the microresonator. Removing the unnecessary modes while reorganizing the remaining modes is of vital importance, which, however, has been proved challenging and usually results in a tradeoff with the Q of the microresonator. Here, we reveal an effective and controllable mode trimming and clustering mechanism underlying the generation of polygon and star modes in weakly perturbed tapered fiber-coupled lithium niobate whispering gallery microresonators. Experimentally, various polygon and star modes are observed in sequence within a single microresonator by tuning the excitation wavelength or varying the coupling position between a tapered fiber and the circular microresonator, which can be well reproduced with our theoretical model. The finding offers a ubiquitous solution for a broad range of applications requiring elaborate selection and organization of the high-Q WGMs.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Electro-optically tunable low phase-noise microwave synthesizer in an active lithium niobate microdisk

Photonic-based low-phase-noise microwave generation with real-time frequency tuning is crucial for a broad spectrum of subjects, including next-generation wireless communications, radar, metrology, and modern instrumentation. Here, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, narrow-bandwidth dual-wavelength microlasers are generated from nearly degenerate polygon modes in a high-Q active lithium niobate microdisk. The high-Q polygon modes formation with independently controllable resonant wavelengths and free spectral ranges is enabled by the weak perturbation of the whispering gallery microdisk resonators using a tapered fiber. The stable beating signal confirms the low phase-noise achieved in the tunable laser. Owing to the high spatial overlap factors between the two nearly degenerate lasing modes as well as that between the two lasing modes and the pump mode, gain competition between the two modes is suppressed, leading to stable dual-wavelength laser generation and in turn the low noise microwave source. The measured microwave signal shows a linewidth of ~6.87 kHz, a phase noise of ~-123 dBc/Hz, and an electro-optic tuning efficiency of -1.66 MHz/V.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Coherent mode-combined ultra-narrow-linewidth single-mode micro-disk laser

Integrated single-mode microlasers with ultra-narrow linewidths play a game-changing role in a broad spectrum of applications ranging from coherent communication and LIDAR to metrology and sensing. Generation of such light sources in a controllable and cost-effective manner remains an outstanding challenge due to the difficulties in the realization of ultra-high Q active micro-resonators with suppressed mode numbers. Here, we report a microlaser generated in an ultra-high Q Erbium doped lithium niobate (LN) micro-disk. Through the formation of coherently combined polygon modes at both pump and laser wavelengths, the microlaser exhibits single mode operation with an ultra-narrow-linewidth of 98 Hz. In combination with the superior electro-optic and nonlinear optical properties of LN crystal, the mass-producible on-chip single-mode microlaser will provide an essential building block for the photonic integrated circuits demanding high precision frequency control and reconfigurability.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Photon retention in coherently excited nitrogen ions

Quantum coherence in quantum optics is an essential part of optical information processing and light manipulation. Alkali metal vapors, despite the numerous shortcomings, are traditionally used in quantum optics as a working medium due to convenient near-infrared excitation, strong dipole transitions and long-lived coherence. Here, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated photon retention and subsequent re-emittance with the quantum coherence in a system of coherently excited molecular nitrogen ions (N2+) which are produced using a strong 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse. Such photon retention, facilitated by quantum coherence, keeps releasing directly-unmeasurable coherent photons for tens of picoseconds, but is able to be read-out by a time-delayed femtosecond pulse centered at 1580 nm via two-photon resonant absorption, resulting in a strong radiation at 329.3 nm. We reveal a pivotal role of the excited-state population to transmit such extremely weak re-emitted photons in this system. This new finding unveils the nature of the coherent quantum control in N2+ for the potential platform for optical information storage in the remote atmosphere, and facilitates further exploration of fundamental interactions in the quantum optical platform with strong-field ionized molecules.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Lithium niobate microring with ultra-high Q factor above 10^8

We demonstrate ultra-high Q factor microring resonators close to the intrinsic material absorption limit on lithium niobate on insulator. The microrings are fabricated on pristine lithium niobate (LN) thin film wafer thinned from LN bulk via chemo-mechanical etching without ion slicing and ion etching. A record-high Q factor up to times ten to the power of 8th at the wavelength of 1550 nm is achieved because of the ultra-smooth interface of the microrings and the absence of ion induced lattice damage, indicating an ultra-low waveguide propagation loss of about 0.28 dB per meter. The ultra-high Q microrings will pave the way for integrated quantum light source, frequency comb generation, and nonlinear optical processes.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

On-chip ultra-narrow-linewidth single-mode microlaser on lithium niobate on insulator

We report an on-chip single mode microlaser with low-threshold fabricated on Erbium doped lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI). The single mode laser emission at 1550.5 nm wavelength is generated in a coupled photonic molecule, which is facilitated by Vernier effect when pumping the photonic molecule at 970 nm. A threshold pump power as low as 200 uW is demonstrated thanks to the high quality factor above 10^6. Moreover, the linewidth of the microlaser reaches 4 kHz, which is the best result in LNOI microlasers. Such single mode micro-laser lithographically fabricated on chip is highly in demand by photonic community.

physics.optics↗