Design, fabrication, and characterization of lithium niobate whispering-gallery-mode microdisk and microring resonators and grating couplers

Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is becoming popular in microelectronics and photonics research due to its exciting physical properties. Properties such as large electro-optic and piezoelectric coefficients make lithium niobate an excellent material for RF-photonics platforms that require center frequency tuning and large bandwidth for modulation. Photonic microresonators developed in LiNbO3 thin-films serve as the basic design unit of such platforms. This thesis provides preliminary characterizations of LiNbO3 whispering-gallery-mode microring and microdisk resonators, a single-ring filter, and grating couplers. The theory, simulation, fabrication, and experimental results of these devices are presented. Fabricated grating couplers with center wavelengths around 1560 nm are characterized and their insertion losses are explained. Microring and microdisk resonators with quality factors of 3-4 × 104 and a microring wavelength-dropping filter with a quality factor of 6.8 × 103 are demonstrated. Finally, the challenges in LiNbO3 micromachining and testing are discussed and future work for this research is suggested.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Kar, Arunita

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gong, Songbin
• Goddard, Lynford

• Lithium niobate
• resonator
• grating coupler

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Arunita Kar

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101339

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101339