FABRICATION METHODOLOGIES FOR INTEGRATED PHOTONIC DEVICES IN LITHIUM NIOBATE
Lithium niobate is one of the most commonly used materials in the active photonic devices. However, the fabrication of advanced LiNbO3 devices like suspended membrane is still quit challenging, limiting the development of integrated optics. The overall aim of this study was to explore the fabrication methods and attempt to develop novel devices based on deep anisotropic ridges and photonic crystals. Detailed examination of ICP etching characterizations of LiNbO3 showed that deep and highly anisotropic etching with an ultra-smooth surface can be achieved in a single-step run. Then we demonstrated a monolithic approach to fabricate suspended LiNbO3 structures by employing ion implantation and focused ion beam. Free-standing LiNbO3 photonic crystal slabs were successfully fabricated and their Fano resonance phenomenon was systematically investigated for the first time. Both simulation and experimental results confirmed that such device has great potential for active integrated photonic circuits. Besides out-of-plane investigations, we also performed an exploratory study on in-plane transmission property of photonic crystals in APE LiNbO3 waveguides.
lithium niobate,photonic crystal,waveguide,photonic device
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