arXiv subjects

Xiaojun Xie

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaojun Xie.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Synergistic Antenna-Modulator Integration for Monolithic Photonic RF Receiver

Integrated radio-frequency (RF) photonics plays a pivotal role in wireless communications, sensing, and radar due to its large intrinsic bandwidth, remote distribution capability, and compact footprint. However, despite significant advances in photonic integrated circuits (PICs), the practical deployment of these systems remains constrained by the bulky nature of essential RF components (e.g., bulky antennas, amplifiers, and cables), especially in covert, conformal, and space-constrained applications. To overcome these limitations, monolithic electronic-photonic integrated circuits (EPICs), enabling miniaturized and synergistic integration of both RF and photonic components, are gaining notable attention. As a groundbreaking advancement, we demonstrate a novel photonic RF receiver that monolithically integrates a bow-tie antenna and a microring modulator on a thin-film lithium niobate platform. The chip innovatively leverages dual-resonance enhancement mechanism, RF resonance from the antenna and optical resonance from the microring, to significantly boost the RF-to-optical conversion efficiency. A record-high figure of merit (FOM) of 3.88 W-1/2 is achieved within a compact footprint of 2*1.7 mm2. As the first demonstrations, the integrated receiver is deployed in an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, achieving centimeter-level radar ranging accuracy and 3.2 Gbps wireless communication capacity, as well as real-time video transmission function in moving scenarios. This seminal work paves a new way for covert, conformal, and miniaturized frontends in wireless communication and sensing applications, including body area networks, unmanned aerial vehicles, high-speed vacuum maglevs, and electronic warfare systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

A 3.584 Tbps coherent receiver chip on InP-LiNbO3 wafer-level integration platform

The rapid advancement of the thin-film lithium niobate (LiNbO3) platform has established it as a premier choice for high-performance photonics integrated circuits. However, the scalability and cost-efficiency of this platform are hindered by the reliance on chip-level fabrication and integration for passive and active components, necessitating a robust wafer-level LiNbO3 heterogeneous integration platform. Despite its critical role in enabling ultrahigh-speed optical interconnects, as well as optical mmWave/THz sensing and communication, the realization of ultrahigh-speed photodiodes and optical coherent receivers on the LiNbO_3 platform remains an unresolved challenge. This is primarily due to the challenges associated with the large-scale integration of direct-bandgap materials. To address these challenges, we have developed a scalable, high-speed InP-LiNbO3 wafer-level heterogeneous integration platform. This platform facilitates the fabrication of ultrahigh-speed photodiodes with a bandwidth of 140 GHz, capable of receiving high-quality 100-Gbaud pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) signals. Moreover, we demonstrate a seven-channel, single-polarization I-Q coherent receiver chip with an aggregate receiving capacity of 3.584 Tbit/s. This coherent receiver exhibits a balanced detection bandwidth of 60 GHz and a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) exceeding 20 dB. It achieves receiving capacities of 600 Gbit/s/λwith a 100-Gbaud 64-QAM signal and 512 Gbit/s/λwith a 128-Gbaud 16-QAM signal. Furthermore, energy consumption as low as 9.6 fJ/bit and 13.5 fJ/bit is achieved for 200 Gbit/s and 400 Gbit/s capacities, respectively. Our work provides a viable pathway toward enabling Pbps hyperscale data center interconnects, as well as optical mmWave/THz sensing and communication.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Ultra-wideband Waveguide-coupled Photodiodes Heterogeneously Integrated on a Thin-film Lithium Niobate Platform

With the advantages of large electro-optical coefficient, wide transparency window, and strong optical confinement, thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) technique has enabled the development of various high-performance optoelectronics devices, ranging from the ultra-wideband electro-optic modulators to the high-efficient quantum sources. However, the TFLN platform does not natively promise lasers and photodiodes. This study presents an InP/InGaAs modified uni-traveling carrier (MUTC) photodiodes heterogeneously integrated on the TFLN platform with a record-high 3-dB bandwidth of 110 GHz and a responsivity of 0.4 A/W at a 1550-nm wavelength. It is implemented on a wafer-level TFLN-InP heterogeneous integration platform and is suitable for the large-scale, multi-function, and high-performance TFLN photonic integrated circuits.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Coherent Optical Clock Down-Conversion for Microwave Frequencies with 10-18 Instability

Optical atomic clocks are poised to redefine the SI second, thanks to stability and accuracy more than one hundred times better than the current microwave atomic clock standard. However, the best optical clocks have not seen their performance transferred to the electronic domain, where radar, navigation, communications, and fundamental research rely on less stable microwave sources. By comparing two independent optical-to-electronic signal generators, we demonstrate a 10 GHz microwave signal with phase that exactly tracks that of the optical clock phase from which it is derived, yielding an absolute fractional frequency instability of 1*10-18 in the electronic domain. Such faithful reproduction of the optical clock phase expands the opportunities for optical clocks both technologically and scientifically for time-dissemination, navigation, and long-baseline interferometric imaging.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Computational Study of Amplitude-to-Phase Conversion in a Modified Uni-Traveling Carrier (MUTC) Photodetector

We calculate the amplitude-to-phase (AM-to-PM) noise conversion in a modified unitraveling carrier (MUTC) photodetector. We obtained two nulls as measured in the experiments, and we explain their origin. The nulls appear due to the transit time variation when the average photocurrent varies, and the transit time variation is due to the change of electron velocity when the average photocurrent varies. We also show that the AM-to-PM conversion coefficient depends only on the pulse energy and is independent of the pulse duration when the duration is less than 500 fs. When the pulse duration is larger than 500 fs, the nulls of the AM-to-PM conversion coefficient shift to larger average photocurrents. This shift occurs because the increase in that pulse duration leads to a decrease in the peak photocurrent. The AM-to-PM noise conversion coefficient changes as the repetition rate varies. However, the repetition rate does not change the AM-to-PM conversion coefficient as a function of input optical pulse energy. The repetition rate changes the average photocurrent. We propose a design that would in theory improve the performance of the device.

physics.ins-det↗