Dec 10 (Tue) @ 10:00am: "Photonic Integrated Coil Cavity Ultra-low Linewidth Stabilized Lasers and Applications," Kaikai Liu, ECE PhD Defense

Location: Henley Hall (HH), Room 1010
Zoom Meeting: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/89310178158
Research Areas: Electronics & Photonics
Research Keywords: Photonics, Lasers, Optical Waveguide Resonators, Optical Waveguides

Abstract

Silicon nitride has become a widely used material platform for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), due to its broad optical transparency window (400 nm – 2.5 μm), relatively high refractive index, widely accessible growth mechanism in CMOS foundries, and ability to achieve low propagation losses, high-Q and large optical mode volume waveguide resonators. In this presentation, I will discuss the efforts to achieve high laser spectral purity based on high-Q silicon nitride waveguide resonators, nonlinear Brillouin dynamics, and large optical mode volume cavity laser stabilization. In the first part, I will focus on the design and fabrication of low-confinement silicon nitride waveguide resonators with 400 – 700 million intrinsic Qs and showcase the two-point-coupling technique that enables broadband bus-resonator coupling from 900 nm to 1600 nm in a single waveguide reference cavity. Then, I will describe the effort to develop a scalable integrated optics solution for optical reference cavities and the results of laser stabilization using 8-inch-CMOS-fabricated and 300-million-intrinsic-Q coil waveguide resonators with low thermal noise limits. Finally, I will discuss the stimulated Brillouin scattering lasers based on the coil waveguide resonator achieving 30 mHz fundamental linewidths. These results show great potential of silicon nitride based integrated optical reference technology in visible and NIR wavelengths for quantum photonics and AMO applications.

Bio

Kaikai Liu is a PhD candidate in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at University of California Santa Barbara with Professor Daniel J. Blumenthal. His PhD research focuses on ultra-low-loss silicon nitride waveguide, narrow-linewidth Brillouin lasers, and high-Q integrated waveguide optical reference resonators.

Hosted By: Professor Daniel Blumenthal

Submitted By: Kaikai Liu <kaikailiu@ucsb.edu>