arXiv subjects

Xin Ou

Publications and source records attributed to Xin Ou.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Hybrid and scalable photonic circuit cavity quantum electrodynamics

Similar to superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED), the development of a photonic analog--specifically, photonic circuit cQED--has become a major focus in integrated quantum photonics. Current solid-state cQED devices, however, face scalability challenges due to the difficulty in simultaneously spectral tuning of cavity modes and quantum emitters while ensuring in-plane optical modes confinement for efficient on-chip light routing. Here, we overcome these limitations by proposing and demonstrating a hybrid solid-state cQED platform integrated on a chip. Our device integrates semiconducting quantum dots (QDs) with a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) microring resonator. Leveraging TFLN's ferroelectric and electro-optic (EO) properties, we implement local spectral tuning of both waveguide-coupled QDs and cavity modes. This approach achieves a broad spectral tuning range of up to 4.82 nm for individual QDs, enabling deterministic on-chip single-photon emission with a Purcell factor of 3.52. When combined with EO cavity tuning, we realize a spectrally tunable hybrid photonic circuit cQED device, sustaining near-constant Purcell factors of 1.89 over a 0.30 nm spectral range. This achievement enables scalable on-chip cavity-enhanced single-photon sources while preserving optical properties and maintaining compatibility with advanced photonic architectures, marking a significant step toward practical implementation of large-scale chip-based quantum networks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Stable Soliton Microcomb Generation in X-cut Lithium Tantalate via Thermal-Assisted Photorefractive Suppression

Chip-based soliton frequency microcombs combine compact size, broad bandwidth, and high coherence, presenting a promising solution for integrated optical telecommunications, precision sensing, and spectroscopy. Recent progress in ferroelectric thin films, particularly thin-film Lithium niobate (LN) and thin-film Lithium tantalate (LT), has significantly advanced electro-optic (EO) modulation and soliton microcombs generation, leveraging their strong third-order nonlinearity and high Pockels coefficients. However, achieving soliton frequency combs in X-cut ferroelectric materials remains challenging due to the competing effects of thermo-optic and photorefractive phenomena. These issues hinder the simultaneous realization of soliton generation and high-speed EO modulation. Here, following the thermal-regulated carrier behaviour and auxiliary-laser-assisted approach, we propose a convenient mechanism to suppress both photorefractive and thermal dragging effect at once, and implement a facile method for soliton formation and its long-term stabilization in integrated X-cut LT microresonators for the first time. The resulting mode-locked states exhibit robust stability against perturbations, enabling new pathways for fully integrated photonic circuits that combine Kerr nonlinearity with high-speed EO functionality.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Least energy solutions of two asymptotically cubic Kirchhoff equations on locally finite graphs

We study the existence of least energy solutions for two Kirchhoff equations with the asymptotically cubic nonlinearity $f(u)=λu+η|u|^2u$ on a locally weighted and connected finite graph $G=(V,E)$. Such nonlinearity satisfies neither $\frac{F(u)}{u^4}\to +\infty$ as $|u|\to\infty$, where $F(u)=\int_0^uf(s)ds$, nor $\frac{f(u)}{u}\to 0$ as $u\to 0$. By utilizing the constrained variational method, we prove that there exist $λ_1\ge 0$ and $η_0\ge 0$ ($λ_1^*\ge 0$ and $η_0^*\ge 0$) such that these two equations have at least a least energy solution if $|λ| η_0$ ($η>η_0^*$).

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Tunable cavity coupling to spin defects in 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator platform

Silicon carbide (SiC) has attracted significant attention as a promising quantum material due to its ability to host long-lived, optically addressable color centers with solid-state photonic interfaces. The CMOS compatibility of 4H-SiCOI (silicon-carbide-on-insulator) makes it an ideal platform for integrated quantum photonic devices and circuits. While micro-ring cavities have been extensively studied in SiC and other materials, the integration of 4H-SiC spin defects into these critical structures, along with continuous mode tunability, remains unexplored. In this work, we demonstrate the integration of PL4 divacancy spin defects into tunable micro-ring cavities in scalable thin-film 4H-SiC nanophotonics. Comparing on- and off-resonance conditions, we observed an enhancement of the Purcell factor by approximately 5.0. This enhancement effectively confined coherent photons within the coupled waveguide, leading to a twofold increase in the ODMR (optically detected magnetic resonance) contrast and coherent control of PL4 spins. These advancements lay the foundation for developing SiC-based quantum photonic circuits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Decoding fairness: a reinforcement learning perspective

Behavioral experiments on the ultimatum game (UG) reveal that we humans prefer fair acts, which contradicts the prediction made in orthodox Economics. Existing explanations, however, are mostly attributed to exogenous factors within the imitation learning framework. Here, we adopt the reinforcement learning paradigm, where individuals make their moves aiming to maximize their accumulated rewards. Specifically, we apply Q-learning to UG, where each player is assigned two Q-tables to guide decisions for the roles of proposer and responder. In a two-player scenario, fairness emerges prominently when both experiences and future rewards are appreciated. In particular, the probability of successful deals increases with higher offers, which aligns with observations in behavioral experiments. Our mechanism analysis reveals that the system undergoes two phases, eventually stabilizing into fair or rational strategies. These results are robust when the rotating role assignment is replaced by a random or fixed manner, or the scenario is extended to a latticed population. Our findings thus conclude that the endogenous factor is sufficient to explain the emergence of fairness, exogenous factors are not needed.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2024

Room-Temperature entangled quantum processor on integrated semiconductor photonics platform

The rise of the 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator (SiCOI) platform marks a promising pathway towards the realization of monolithic quantum photonic networks. However, the challenge of establishing room-temperature entangled registers on these integrated photonics platforms remains unresolved. Herein, we demonstrate the first entangled processor on the SiCOI platform. We show that both deterministic generation of single divacancy electron spins and near-unity spin initialization of a single $^{13}$C nuclear spin can be achieved on SiCOI at room temperature. Besides coherently manipulating the single nuclear spin, a maximally entangled state with a fidelity of 0.89 has been prepared on this CMOS-compatible semiconductor-integrated photonics system. This work establishes the foundation for compact and on-chip solutions within existing defect-based computing and sensing protocols, positioning the SiCOI platform as the most promising candidate for integrated monolithic quantum photonic networks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

A hybrid single quantum dot coupled cavity on a CMOS-compatible SiC photonic chip for Purcell-enhanced deterministic single-photon emission

The ability to control nonclassical light emission from a single quantum emitter by an integrated cavity may unleash new perspectives for integrated photonic quantum applications. However, coupling a single quantum emitter to cavity within photonic circuitry towards creation of the Purcell-enhanced single-photon emission is elusive due to the complexity of integrating active devices in low-loss photonic circuits. Here we demonstrate a hybrid micro-ring resonator (HMRR) coupled with self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) for cavity-enhanced deterministic single-photon emission. The HMRR cavity supports whispering-gallery modes with quality factors up to 7800. By further introducing a micro-heater, we show that the photon emission of QDs can be locally and dynamically tuned over one free spectral ranges of the HMRR (~4 nm). This allows precise tuning of individual QDs in resonance with the cavity modes, thereby enhancing single-photon emission with a Purcell factor of about 4.9. Our results on the hybrid integrated cavities coupled with two-level quantum emitters emerge as promising devices for chip-based scalable photonic quantum applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Ultrabroadband thin-film lithium tantalate modulator for high-speed communications

The continuous growth of global data traffic over the past three decades, along with advances in disaggregated computing architectures, presents significant challenges for optical transceivers in communication networks and high-performance computing systems. Specifically, there is a growing need to significantly increase data rates while reducing energy consumption and cost. High-performance optical modulators based on materials such as InP, thin-film lithium niobate (LiNbO3), or plasmonics have been developed, with LiNbO3 excelling in high-speed and low-voltage modulation. Nonetheless, the widespread industrial adoption of thin film LiNbO3 remains compounded by the rather high cost of the underlying 'on insulator' substrates -- in sharp contrast to silicon photonics, which can benefit from strong synergies with high-volume applications in conventional microelectronics. Here, we demonstrate an integrated 110 GHz modulator using thin-film lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) -- a material platform that is already commercially used for millimeter-wave filters and that can hence build upon technological and economic synergies with existing high-volume applications to offer scalable low-cost manufacturing. We show that the LiTaO3 photonic integrated circuit based modulator can support 176 GBd PAM8 transmission at net data rates exceeding 400 Gbit/s. Moreover, we show that using silver electrodes can reduce microwave losses compared to previously employed gold electrodes. Our demonstration positions LiTaO3 modulator as a novel and highly promising integration platform for next-generation high-speed, energy-efficient, and cost-effective transceivers.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Integrated Triply Resonant Electro-Optic Frequency Comb in Lithium Tantalate

Integrated frequency comb generators based on Kerr parametric oscillation have led to chip-scale, gigahertz-spaced combs with new applications spanning hyperscale telecommunications, low-noise microwave synthesis, LiDAR, and astrophysical spectrometer calibration. Recent progress in lithium niobate (LN) photonic integrated circuits (PICs) has resulted in chip-scale electro-optic (EO) frequency combs, offering precise comb-line positioning and simple operation without relying on the formation of dissipative Kerr solitons. However, current integrated EO combs face limited spectral coverage due to the large microwave power required to drive the non-resonant capacitive electrodes and the strong intrinsic birefringence of Lithium Niobate. Here, we overcome both challenges with an integrated triply resonant architecture, combining monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) with PICs based on the recently emerged thin-film lithium tantalate. With resonantly enhanced EO interaction and reduced birefringence in Lithium Tantalate, we achieve a four-fold comb span extension and a 16-fold power reduction compared to the conventional non-resonant microwave design. Driven by a hybrid-integrated laser diode, the comb spans over 450nm (60THz) with >2000 lines, and the generator fits within a compact 1cm^2 footprint. We additionally observe that the strong EO coupling leads to an increased comb existence range approaching the full free spectral range of the optical microresonator. The ultra-broadband comb generator, combined with detuning-agnostic operation, could advance chip-scale spectrometry and ultra-low-noise millimeter wave synthesis and unlock octave-spanning EO combs. The methodology of co-designing microwave and optical resonators can be extended to a wide range of integrated electro-optics applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Dependence on parameters of solutions for a generalized poly-Laplacian system on weighted graphs

We mainly investigate the continuous dependence on parameters of nontrivial solutions for a generalized poly-Laplacian system on the weighted finite graph $G=(V, E)$. We firstly present an existence result of mountain pass type nontrivial solutions when the nonlinear term $F$ satisfies the super-$(p, q)$ linear growth condition which is a simple generalization of those results in [28]. Then we mainly show that the mountain pass type nontrivial solutions of the poly-Laplacian system are uniformly bounded for parameters and the concrete upper and lower bounds are given, and are continuously dependent on parameters. Similarly, we also present the existence result, the concrete upper and lower bounds, uniqueness, and dependence on parameters for the locally minimum type nontrivial solutions. Subsequently, we present an example on optimal control as an application of our results. Finally, we give a nonexistence result and some results for the corresponding scalar equation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Ground state sign-changing solutions for Kirchhoff-type equations with logarithmic nonlinearity on locally finite graphs

We obtain the existence results of ground state sign-changing solutions and ground state solutions for a class of Kirchhoff-type equations with logarithmic nonlinearity on a locally finite graph $G=(V,E)$, and obtain the sign-changing ground state energy is larger than twice of the ground state energy. The method we used is a direct non-Nehari manifold method in [X.H. Tang, B.T. Cheng. J. Differ. Equations. 261(2016), 2384-2402.]

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Ground state sign-changing homoclinic solutions for a discrete nonlinear $p$-Laplacian equation with logarithmic nonlinearity

By using a direct non-Nehari manifold method from [X.H. Tang, B.T. Cheng. J. Differ. Equations. 261(2016), 2384-2402.], we obtain an existence result of ground state sign-changing homoclinic solution which only changes sign one times and ground state homoclinic solution for a class of discrete nonlinear $p$-Laplacian equation with logarithmic nonlinearity. Moreover, we prove that the sign-changing ground state energy is larger than twice of the ground state energy.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Lithium tantalate electro-optical photonic integrated circuits for high volume manufacturing

Photonic integrated circuits based on Lithium Niobate have demonstrated the vast capabilities afforded by material with a high Pockels coefficient, allowing linear and high-speed modulators operating at CMOS voltage levels for applications ranging from data-center communications and photonic accelerators for AI. However despite major progress, the industrial adoption of this technology is compounded by the high cost per wafer. Here we overcome this challenge and demonstrate a photonic platform that satisfies the dichotomy of allowing scalable manufacturing at low cost, while at the same time exhibiting equal, and superior properties to those of Lithium Niobate. We demonstrate that it is possible to manufacture low loss photonic integrated circuits using Lithium Tantalate, a material that is already commercially adopted for acoustic filters in 5G and 6G. We show that LiTaO3 posses equally attractive optical properties and can be etched with high precision and negligible residues using DUV lithography, diamond like carbon (DLC) as a hard mask and alkaline wet etching. Using this approach we demonstrate microresonators with an intrinsic cavity linewidth of 26.8 MHz, corresponding to a linear loss of 5.6 dB/m and demonstrate a Mach Zehnder modulator with Vpi L = 4.2 V cm half-wave voltage length product. In comparison to Lithium Niobate, the photonic integrated circuits based on LiTaO3 exhibit a much lower birefringence, allowing high-density circuits and broadband operation over all telecommunication bands (O to L band), exhibit higher photorefractive damage threshold, and lower microwave loss tangent. Moreover, we show that the platform supports generation of soliton microcombs in X-Cut LiTaO3 racetrack microresonator with electronically detectable repetition rate, i.e. 30.1 GHz.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Silicon carbide for integrated photonics

The recent progress in chip-scale integrated photonics has stimulated the rapid development of material platforms with desired optical properties. Among the different material platforms that are currently investigated, the third-generation semiconductor, silicon carbide (SiC), offers the broadest range of functionalities, including wide bandgap, high optical nonlinearities, high refractive index, and CMOS-compatible device fabrication process. Here, we provide an overview of SiC-based integrated photonics, presenting the latest progress on investigating its basic optical and optoelectronic properties, as well as the recent developments in the fabrication of several typical approaches for light confinement structures that form the basic building blocks for low-loss, high functional and industry-compatible integrated photonic platform. Moreover, recent works employing SiC as optically-readable spin hosts for quantum information applications are also summarized and discussed. As a still-developing integrated photonic platform, the prospects and challenges of SiC material platform in the field of integrated photonics are also discussed, followed by potential solutions.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Hybrid integration of deterministic quantum dots-based single-photon sources with CMOS-compatible silicon carbide photonics

Thin film 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is emerging as a contender for realizing large-scale optical quantum circuits due to its high CMOS technology compatibility and large optical nonlinearities. Though, challenges remain in producing wafer-scale 4H-SiC thin film on insulator (4H-SiCOI) for dense integration of photonic circuits, and in efficient coupling of deterministic quantum emitters that are essential for scalable quantum photonics. Here we demonstrate hybrid integration of self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) based single-photon sources (SPSs) with wafer-scale 4H-SiC photonic chips prepared by ion slicing technique. By designing a bilayer vertical coupler, we realize generation and highly efficient routing of single-photon emission in the hybrid quantum photonic chip. Furthermore, we realize a chip-integrated beamsplitter operation for triggered single photons through fabricating a 1x2 multi-mode interferometer (MMI) with a symmetric power splitting ratio of 50:50. The successful demonstration of heterogeneously integrating QDs-based SPSs on 4H-SiC photonic chip prepared by ion slicing technique constitutes an important step toward CMOS-compatible, fast reconfigurable quantum photonic circuits with deterministic SPSs.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Monolithic Integrated Multiband Acoustic Devices on Heterogeneous Substrate for Sub-6 GHz RF-FEMs

Monolithic integration of multiband (1.4~ 6.0 GHz) RF acoustic devices were successfully demonstrated within the same process flow by using the lithium niobate (LN) thin film on silicon carbide (LNOSiC) substrate. A novel surface mode with sinking energy distribution was proposed, exhibiting reduced propagation loss. Surface wave and Lamb wave resonators with suppressed transverse modes and leaky modes were demonstrated, showing scalable resonances from 1.4 to 5.7 GHz, electromechanical coupling coefficients (k2) between 7.9% and 29.3%, and maximum Bode-Q (Qmax) larger than 3200. Arrayed filters with a small footprint (4.0 x 2.5 mm2) but diverse center frequencies (fc) and 3-dB fractional bandwidths (FBW) were achieved, showing fc from 1.4 to 6.0 GHz, FBW between 3.3% and 13.3%, and insertion loss (IL) between 0.59 and 2.10 dB. These results may promote the progress of hundred-filter sub-6 GHz RF front-end modules (RF-FEMs).

eess.SP↗

arXiv2021

An Ultrahigh-Q Microresonator on 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator Platform for Multiple Harmonics, Cascaded Raman Lasing and Kerr Comb Generations

The realization of ultrahigh quality (Q) resonators regardless of the underpinning material platforms has been a ceaseless pursuit, because the high Q resonators provide an extreme environment of storage of light to enable observations of many unconventional nonlinear optical phenomenon with high efficiencies. Here, we demonstrate an ultra-high Q factor (7.1*10^6) microresonator on the 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator (4H-SiCOI) platform in which both \c{hi}^(2) and \c{hi}^(3) nonlinear processes of high efficiencies have been generated. Broadband frequency conversions, including second-, third-, fourth-harmonic generation were observed. Cascaded Raman lasing was demonstrated in the SiC microresonator for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Broadband Kerr frequency combs covering from 1300 to 1700 nm were achieved using a dispersion-engineered SiC microresonator. Our demonstration is a significant milestone in the development of SiC photonic integrated devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Superconducting microstrip single-photon detector with system detection efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm

Generally, a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) is composed of wires with a typical width of ~100 nm. Recent studies have found that superconducting strips with a micrometer-scale width can also detect single photons. Compared with the SNSPD, the superconducting microstrip single-photon detector (SMSPD) has smaller kinetic inductance, higher working current, and lower requirement in fabrication accuracy, providing potential applications in the development of ultra-large active area detectors. However, the study on SMSPD is still in its infancy, and the realization of its high-performance and practical use remains an opening question. This study demonstrates a NbN SMSPD with a saturated system detection efficiency (SDE) of ~92.2% at a dark count rate of ~200 cps, a polarization sensitivity of ~1.03, and a minimum timing jitter of ~48 ps, at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm when coupled with a single mode fiber and operated at 0.84 K. Furthermore, the detector's SDE is over 70% when operated at a 2.1-K closed-cycle cryocooler.

physics.ins-det↗