arXiv subjects

Xingyan Zhao

Publications and source records attributed to Xingyan Zhao.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Acousto-optic modulation based on an AlScN microring resonator for microwave-to-optical conversion

Acoustic-optic (AO) modulation is critical for microwave and optical signal processing, computing and networking. Challenges remain to integrate AO devices on-chip using fabrication process compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. This work presents the demonstration of an AO modulator exploiting a microring resonator (MRR) based on thin-film aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) photonic platform. Leveraging the high piezoelectric properties of AlScN, an MRR is employed with interdigital transducer (IDT) inside to couple microwave signals into acoustic resonant modes, enabling efficient by-directional optical modulation in the MRR. The fabricated MRR exhibits an optical loaded quality factor (Q) of 1.8*e4 at the optical L-band for the TE00 mode. A low effective half-wave voltage Vpi of 1.21 V is achieved, corresponding to a VpiL of 0.0242 Vcm, along with an optomechanical single-photon coupling strength g0 of 0.43 kHz between the 2.11 GHz acoustic mode and the TE00 optical mode. The device shows potential for applications in microwave photonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Silicon-integrated scandium-doped aluminum nitride electro-optic modulator

Scandium-doped aluminum nitride (AlScN) with an asymmetric hexagonal wurtzite structure exhibits enhanced second-order nonlinear and piezoelectric properties compared to aluminum nitride (AlN), while maintaining a relatively large bandgap. It provides a promising platform for photonic integration and facilitates the seamless integration of passive and active functional devices. Here, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of AlScN EO micro-ring modulators, introducing active functionalities to the chip-scale AlScN platform. These waveguide-integrated EO modulators employ sputtered AlScN thin films as the light-guiding medium, and the entire fabrication process is compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. We characterize the high-frequency performance of an AlScN modulator for the first time, extracting a maximum in-device effective EO coefficient of 2.86 pm/V at 12 GHz. The devices show a minimum half-wave voltage-length product of 3.12 V*cm and a 3-dB modulation bandwidth of approximately 22 GHz. Our work provides a promising modulation scheme for cost-effective silicon-integrated photonics systems.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

A photoconductor intrinsically has no gain

In the past 50 years, the high gain in quantum efficiency of photoconductors is often explained by a widely accepted theory in which the photogain is proportional to the minority carrier lifetime and inversely proportional to the carrier transit time across the photoconductor. It occasionally misleads scientists to believe that a high-speed and high-gain photodetector can be made simply by shortening the device length. The theory is derived on the assumption that the distribution of photogenerated excess carriers is spatially uniform. In this Letter, we find that this assumption is not valid for a photoconductive semiconductor due to the metal-semiconductor boundary at the two metal electrodes inducing carrier confinement. By solving the continuity equation and performing numerical simulations, we conclude that a photoconductor intrinsically has no gain or at least no high gain, no matter how short the transit time and how long the minority lifetime is. The high gain observed in experiments comes from other extrinsic effects such as defects, surface states and surface depletion regions that localize excess minority carriers, leaving a large number of excess majority carriers accumulated in the conduction channel for the photogain. Following the Ohm's Law, a universal equation governing the photogain in a photoconductor is established at the end of this Letter.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗