High quality integrated LiNbO3 acousto-optic platform for visible light spectrum

The laser's invention, which produced a coherent light source, has accelerated the development of acousto-optic platforms (AlN, GaN, Quartz, LiNbO3) for many practical applications such as beam steering, signal processing, and intensity modulation. The recent integration of on-chip acousto-optic devices with photonic integrated circuits lead to many different acousto-optic devices such as efficient microwave converters, optical isolators, and wavelength scale acousto-optic frequency shifters, which were not realizable before. However, all of these devices target the 1550 nm optical wavelength or mid IR spectrum, and there is no integrated acousto-optic platform for visible wavelengths to the best of our knowledge. This thesis proposes that a LiNbO3 platform can produce a high acousto-optic coupling rate that can be used as a microwave to optical conversion. To have high coupling, we utilized LiNbO3's ultra-high electromechanical coupling for S0 lamb wave mode excitation. We employed LiNbO3's ultra-low optical loss as an interaction enhancement between light and sound for our resonator structures. Our results revealed that intra-band/inter-band optical scattering in LiNbO3 is strongly enhanced by its large piezoelectric, photoelastic, and electro-optic coefficients leading to efficient sideband generation.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Orsel, Ogulcan Emre

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bahl, Gaurav

• Integrated photonics, acousto-optics, electro-optics, nonlinear photonics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Ogulcan Emre Orsel

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110858

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110858