Lithium niobate is a well appreciated material in integrated optics thanks to its large electro-optic, nonlinear and elasto-optic coefficients. If the substrate is converted into a membrane, the properties can even be further enhanced. Therefore, the low-cost production of LiNbO3 membrane-based waveguides is becoming a major challenge.
We propose membrane-based electro-optical microguides
The membranes can be vertical or horizontal and their calibrated thickness that can be as small as 400nm, with a roughness lower than 20nm. Our microguides are provided with integrated spot-size-converters to reduce the insertion losses below 3dB for both quasi-TE and quasi-TM waves. The proposed devices rely on two patented configurations employing precise dicing techniques.
Our enabling technologies can be extrapolated to many other materials. These developments open the way to the low-cost production of compact and low-power-consuming electro-optical components.
This project is funded by the “SATT Grand Est” agency under the grant named “µguide”.
