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Technology for creating a photonic integrated circuit on a lithium niobate substrate
V.S. Solovyov 1, S.A. Degtyarev 2,3, S.N. Khonina 2,3, S.P. Timoshenkov 1, A.S. Timoshenkov 1, N.A. Raschepkina 4, A.E. Chalykh 5

1 National Research University of Electronic Technology – MIET,
Shokin Square, Bld. 1, Zelenograd, Moscow, Russia, 124498;
2 Image Processing Systems Institute, NRC "Kurchatov Institute",
Molodogvardeyskaya Str. 151, Samara, 443001, Russia;
3 Samara National Research University,
Moskovskoye Shosse 34, Samara, 443086, Russia;
4 Samara State Technical University,
Molodogvardeyskaya Str. 244, Samara, 443100, Russia;
5 The Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry RAS (IPCE RAS),
Leninsky Prospekt 31, bld. 4, Moscow, 119071, Russia

 PDF, 1715 kB

DOI: 10.18287/2412-6179-CO-1599

Pages: 733-740.

Full text of article: Russian language.

Abstract:
We propose a new technology for manufacturing a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) on a lithium niobate substrate. It is shown that there is no need to dope the top layer of lithium niobate to create a waveguide system and control radiation. It will suffice to coat the lithium niobate substrate with a layer of a material with higher refractive index, thus creating an asymmetric waveguide, with the radiation mainly propagating deeper within the lithium niobate. In this way, placing metal electrodes along the waveguide layer, it is possible to control the velocity of wave propagation in a waveguide and create controlled photonic circuits, for example, an amplitude Mach-Zehnder modulator or a phase modulator. A technology of spraying a titanium dioxide layer onto the lithium niobate substrate is experimentally created and investigated. It is shown that after the finishing polishing of the end side of the lithium niobate plate, radiation exits from the plate output end. So, it becomes possible to create a PIC with an array of closely spaced waveguides, from which radiation can be output into space and coupled into the lens of a photo or video camera for further processing.

Keywords:
photonic integrated circuit (PIC), planar waveguide, lithium niobate, titanium dioxide, optical polishing of a thin cutting.

Citation:
Solovyov VS, Degtyarev SA, Khonina SN, Timoshenkov SP, Timoshenkov AS, Rascshepkina NA, Chalykh AE. Technology for creating a photonic integrated circuit on a lithium niobate substrate. Computer Optics 2025; 49(5): 733-740. DOI: 10.18287/2412-6179-CO-1599.

Acknowledgements:
This work was funded by the Russian Science Foundation under grant No. 24-22-00044 https://rscf.ru/project/24-22-00044/.

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