Aluminum nitride photonic integrated circuits: from piezo-optomechanics to nonlinear optics

Xianwen Liu; Xianwen Liu; Alexander W. Bruch; Hong. X. Tang

doi:10.1364/AOP.479017

Advances in Optics and Photonics
Vol. 15,
Issue 1,
pp. 236-317
(2023)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AOP.479017

Aluminum nitride photonic integrated circuits: from piezo-optomechanics to nonlinear optics

Xianwen Liu, Alexander W. Bruch, and Hong. X. Tang

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Xianwen Liu, Alexander W. Bruch, and Hong. X. Tang, "Aluminum nitride photonic integrated circuits: from piezo-optomechanics to nonlinear optics," Adv. Opt. Photon. 15, 236-317 (2023)

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- Integrated Photonics
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About this Article
History
- Original Manuscript: October 24, 2022
- Revised Manuscript: February 3, 2023
- Manuscript Accepted: February 5, 2023
- Published: March 29, 2023

Abstract

The commercial success of radio-frequency acoustic filters in wireless communication systems has launched aluminum nitride (AlN) as one of the most widely used semiconductors across the globe. Over recent years, AlN has also been investigated as an attractive photonic integrated platform due to its excellent characteristics, such as enormous bandgaps (∼6.2 eV), quadratic and cubic optical nonlinearities, Pockels electro-optic effects, and compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology. In parallel, AlN possesses outstanding piezoelectric and mechanical performances, which can provide new aspects for controlling phonons and photons at the wavelength scale using nanophotonic architectures. These characteristics pose AlN as a promising candidate to address the drawbacks in conventional silicon and silicon nitride platforms. In this review, we aim to present recent advances achieved in AlN photonic integrated circuits ranging from material processing and passive optical routing to active functionality implementation such as electro-optics, piezo-optomechanics, and all-optical nonlinear frequency conversion. Finally, we highlight the challenges and future prospects existing in AlN nanophotonic chips.

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Material	AlN	Si	Si$_3$N$_4$	TFLN	GaAs
Point group	$6mm$	$m3m$	Amorphous	$3m$	$43m$
Optical bandgap ($E_\mathrm {g}$, eV)	6.2	1.1	5.0	4.0	1.4
Refractive index [46,47]	2.04 ($o$)	3.48	2.00	2.21 ($o$)	3.38
Refractive index [46,47]	2.08 ($e$)	3.48	2.00	2.14 ($e$)	3.38
Thermo-optics ($dn/dT$, K$^{-1}$) [48–52]	2.3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ ($o$)	1.8 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$	2.5 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$	0.2 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ ($o$)	2.3 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$
Thermo-optics ($dn/dT$, K$^{-1}$) [48–52]	2.3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ ($o$)	1.8 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$	2.5 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$	3.3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ ($e$)	2.3 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$
Thermal conduction ($\kappa$, W m$^{-1}$ KW m) [34,53–56]	320	142	2.7	3.5	56
${\rm \chi }^{(2)}$ nonlinearity (pm V$^{-1}$) [57–59]		0	0	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{33} \approx$ 54^c	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{36} \approx$ 238
	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{33} \approx$ 6.2			${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{31} \approx$ 0.2
	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{31} \approx$ 8.6^c			${\rm \chi }^{(2)}_{22} \approx$ 4.2^c
${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ nonlinearity ($n_2$, m$^2$ W$^{-1}$) [60–64]	3.5 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$	4.0 $\times$ 10$^{-18}$	2.4 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$	1.0 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$^c	2.6 $\times$ 10$^{-17}$
Pockels coefficient ($r$, pm V$^{-1}$) [65–69]	$r_{33} \approx$ 1.0	0	0	$r_{33} \approx$ 30.9^d	$r_{41} \approx$ 1.5
	$r_{33} \approx$ 1.0			$r_{13} \approx$ 9.7^d
	$r_{31} \approx$ 0.1			$r_{51} \approx$ 32.0^d
	$r_{31} \approx$ 0.1			$r_{22} \approx$ 6.6^d
Piezoelectricity ($d$, pC N$^{-1}$) [70–72]		0	0	$d_{15} \approx$ 68	$d_{14} \approx$ 2.7
	$d_{33} \approx$ 5.5			$d_{22} \approx$ 21
	$d_{15} \approx$ 4.1			$d_{33} \approx$ 6.2
	$d_{31} \approx$ –2.6			$d_{31} \approx$ –1

Coupler	Substrate	AlN Thickness	Wavelength (Polarization)	Efficiency (per Facet)	Reference
Grating	Si	0.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	380 nm (TE)	9%	[77]
		0.33 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	780 nm (TM)	4%	[145]
		0.33 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	1550 nm (TM)	7%	[145]
		0.4 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	1620 nm (TE)	22%	[146]
	Sapphire	0.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	550 nm (TE)	25%^a	[41]
Edge	Si	0.65 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	1550 nm (TE)	40%	[13]
	Si	1.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	3660 nm	5%	[147]
	Sapphire	0.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	369 nm (TE)	NA	[41]
		0.5 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	390 nm (TE/TM)	NA	[39]
		1.0 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	780 nm (TM)	14%	[88]
			1560 nm (TM)	40%	[88]
			1980 nm (TM)	32%	[130]
		1.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	1550 (TE/TM)	52%	[85]
Adiabatic	Si	0.6 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	780 nm (TE/TM)	55%	[137]
Adiabatic	Si	0.6 $\mathrm {\mu }$m	1550 nm (TE/TM)	70%/80%	[137]

Material	Symmetry	Acoustic Velocities^a		Photoelastic coefficients	Piezo.	Ref.
Material	Symmetry	$\nu _L$ (km s$^{-1}$)	$\nu _T$ (km s$^{-1}$)	Photoelastic coefficients	Piezo.	Ref.
AlN	$6mm$	$\sim$11.0	$\sim$6.0	$p_{11} = -0.100$, $p_{12} = -0.027$	Yes	[184]
				$p_{13} = -0.019$, $p_{33} = -0.107$
				$p_{44} = -0.032$, $p_{66} = -0.037$
LN	$3m$	$\sim$6.8	$\sim$3.9	$p_{11} = -0.026$, $p_{12}=0.090$	Yes	[24]
				$p_{13} = 0.133$, $p_{14} = -0.075$
				$p_{31} = 0.179$, $p_{33} = 0.071$
				$p_{41} = -0.151$, $p_{44} = 0.146$
GaAs	$\overline {4}3m$	$\sim$4.7	$\sim$3.3	$p_{11} = -0.165$, $p_{12} = -0.140$	Yes	[185]
GaAs	$\overline {4}3m$	$\sim$4.7	$\sim$3.3	$p_{44} = -0.072$	Yes	[185]
GaN	$6mm$	$\sim$8.0	$\sim$4.0	$p_{11} = -0.086$, $p_{12} = -0.023$	Yes	[184]
				$p_{13} = -0.017$, $p_{33} = -0.091$
				$p_{44} = -0.027$, $p_{66} = -0.032$
GaP	$\overline {4}3m$	$\sim$5.8	$\sim$4.1	$p_{11} = -0.230$, $p_{12} = -0.130$	Yes	[186]
GaP	$\overline {4}3m$	$\sim$5.8	$\sim$4.1	$p_{44} = -0.100$	Yes	[186]
Silicon	$m3m$	$\sim$8.4	$\sim$5.8	$p_{11} = -0.090$, $p_{12} = 0.017$	No	[187]
Silicon	$m3m$	$\sim$8.4	$\sim$5.8	$p_{44} = -0.051$	No	[187]
Silica	Amorphous	$\sim$6.0	$\sim$3.7	$p_{11} = 0.121$, $p_{12} = 0.271$	No	[187]
Silica	Amorphous	$\sim$6.0	$\sim$3.7	$p_{44} = -0.075$	No	[187]
Sapphire	$\overline {3}m$	$\sim$10.8	$\sim$6.4	$p_{11} = 0.250$, $p_{12} = 0.038$	No	[188]
				$p_{31} = 0.032$, $p_{33} = 0.230$
				$p_{44} = 0.100$, $p_{66} = 0.106$
Diamond	$m3m$	$\sim$18.0	$\sim$12.0	$p_{11} = -0.247$, $p_{12} = -0.044$	No	[189]
Diamond	$m3m$	$\sim$18.0	$\sim$12.0	$p_{44} = -0.171$	No	[189]

Scheme	Year	Structure	Material	Isolation	IL^a (dB)	Bandwidth	Power	Ref.
MO	2016	Ring	Si+Ce:YIG	32 dB	2.3	15 GHz	NA	[217]
MO	2020	Ring	Si+Ce:YIG	28 dB	1	15 GHz	10 dBm	[218]
STM	2018	Waveguide	Si^b	39 dB	NA	125 GHz	90 mW^c	[219]
	2018	Racetrack	AlN^b	15 dB	NA	1 GHz	18 dBm	[220]
	2020	Ring	SiN+AlN^b	17 dB	0.5	1 GHz	36 dBm	[221]
	2021	Ring	SiN+AlN^b	10 dB	0.1	0.7 GHz	25 dBm	[222]
	2021	Waveguide	Si+AlN^b	16 dB	0.6	100 GHz	21 dBm	[223]
SM	2014	Waveguide	Doped Si^b	2.4 dB	NA	20 nm	24 dBm	[224]
	2021	Ring	Doped Si^b	13 dB	18	2 GHz	$-$3 dBm	[225]
	2021	Racetrack	AlN^b	3 dB	NA	4 GHz	16 dBm	[226]
OM	2016	Toroid	SiO$_2$	10 dB	14	250 kHz	17 $\mathrm {\mu }$W^c	[227]
	2018	Toroid	SiO$_2$	10 dB	3	60 kHz	60 $\mathrm {\mu }$W^c	[228]
	2018	Sphere	SiO$_2$	17 dB	2	200 kHz	7.8 mW^c	[229]
NLO	2018	Toroid	SiO$_2$	24 dB	7	1 MHz	No drive	[230]
NLO	2020	Ring	Si^b	20 dB	1.3	20 GHz	No drive	[231]

Platform	AlN [205]	TFLN [243]	GaAs [244]	GaP [248]	AlN-on-Si [239]
Year	2016	2020	2020	2022	2020
Pump scheme	CW	CW	Pulsed	Pulsed	Pulsed
$P_\mathrm {in}$	55 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	3.3 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	0.5 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	130 nW	2 $\mathrm {\mu }$W
$n_\mathrm {cav,o}$	9400	500	280	NA	44
$\omega _\mathrm {m}/2\pi$ (GHz)	3.8	1.8	2.7	3.2	5.1
$\kappa _\mathrm {o}/2\pi$ (GHz)	15.2	1.2	5.8	2.9	1.6
$\kappa _\mathrm {m}/2\pi$ (MHz)	5.0	1.9	0.2	NA	1.0
$g_\mathrm {om,0}/2\pi$ (kHz)	115	80	1300	300	420
$C_\mathrm {om}$	$3\times 10^{-3}$	$6\times 10^{-3}$	1.7	$7\times 10^{-3}$	$2\times 10^{-2}$
$\eta _\mathrm {em}$	$7.7\times 10^{-4}$	$1.1\times 10^{-3}$	$3.6\times 10^{-10}$	$1.4\times 10^{-9}$	NA
$\eta _\mathrm {o}$	0.69	0.66	0.65	0.38	0.50
$\eta$	$9.0\times 10^{-8}$	$1\times 10^{-5}$	$2\times 10^{-10}$	$1.4\times 10^{-11}$	$5.3\times 10^{-4}$
$\eta _\mathrm {norm}$ (W$^{-1}$)	$1.6\times 10^{-3}$	3.0	$4\times 10^{-4}$	$1.1\times 10^{-4}$	265
$n_\mathrm {add}$	NA	NA	0.9	NA	0.6
Temperature	300 K	300 K	20 mK	300 K	15 mK

Materials	Year	Structure	PM condition	Normalized CE	Absolute CE	SHG power	Ref.
AlN	2017	Ring	MPM	25 W$^{-1}$	12%	3 mW	[255]
AlN	2018	Ring	MPM	170 W$^{-1}$	11%	11 mW	[57]
TFLN	2018	WG	QPM	26 W$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$	53%	100 mW	[257]
	2019	WG	QPM	46 W$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$	NA	NA	[258]
	2021	WG	QPM	29 W$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$	NA	90 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[259]
	2019	Ring	MPM	15 W$^{-1}$	NA	NA	[260]
	2019	Ring	QPM	2500 W$^{-1}$	15%	0.1 mW	[114]
	2019	Ring	QPM	2300 W$^{-1}$	1.3%	2.1 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[261]
	2020	Ring	QPM	50,000 W$^{-1}$	30%	20 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[262]
	2021	Ring	QPM	1370 W$^{-1}$	58%	2 mW	[263]
(In)GaP	2018	Ring	$\overline {4}$-QPM	4 W$^{-1}$	NA	NA	[264]
(In)GaP	2022	Ring	$\overline {4}$-QPM	712 W$^{-1}$	NA	NA	[265]
4H-SiC	2020	Ring	MPM	3.6 W$^{-1}$	NA	1 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[266]
4H-SiC	2021	Disk	MPM	3.9 W$^{-1}$	NA	0.2 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[12]
GaAs	2019	Ring	$\overline {4}$-QPM	1 W$^{-1}$	4%	13 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[267]
GaAs	2020	WG	$\overline {4}$-QPM	475 W$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$	10 mW	NA	[268]
Si$_3$N$_4$	2021	Ring	MPM	25 W$^{-1}$	22%	2.2 mW	[269]
Si$_3$N$_4$	2022	Ring	QPM	0.48 W$^{-1}$	NA	12.5 mW	[270]
Si	2017	WG	QPM	13 W$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$	NA	79 $\mathrm {\mu }$W	[271]

Platform	Year	Structure	Nonlinearity	$Q$-Factor^a	$\eta _\mathrm {THG}$ (W$^{-2}$)	Ref.
AlN/Si$_3$N$_4$	2018	Microring	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	4.0 $\times$ 10$^5$	1.8	[78]
AlN	2014	Microring	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	5.0 $\times$ 10$^5$	2.4 $\times$ 10$^{-10}$	[309]
Si$_3$N$_4$	2016	Microring	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	1.0 $\times$ 10$^6$	1.2 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$	[310]
Si$_3$N$_4$	2011	Microring	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	NA	5.8 $\times$ 10$^{-10}$	[307]
Silica	2014	Microsphere	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	1.0 $\times$ 10$^7$	2.0 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$	[305]
Silica	2007	Microtoroid	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	NA	NA	[303]
Hydex	2020	Microring	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	1.4 $\times$ 10$^6$	2.7 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$	[308]
GaP	2022	Microdisk	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	6.0 $\times$ 10$^4$	1.9 $\times$ 10$^{-2}$	[311]
4H-SiC	2021	Microdisk	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	4.7 $\times$ 10$^6$	NA	[12]
Silicon	2009	Photonic crystal	${\rm \chi }^{(3)}$ (THG)	NA	19.5	[306]
TFLN	2019	Microdisk	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}$ (SHG/SFG)	9.6 $\times$ 10$^6$	2.8 $\times$ 10$^4$	[302]
TFLN	2009	Microdisk	${\rm \chi }^{(2)}$ (SHG/SFG)	5.0 $\times$ 10$^6$	6.8 $\times$ 10$^{-2}$	[312]

Phonon	Excitation	Poly-Crystalline AlN		Single-Crystalline AlN
Phonon	Excitation	Linewidth	Raman Shift	Linewidth	Raman Shift
E$_2^\mathrm {low}$	TE-polarized	3.8 cm$^{-1}$	246.7 cm$^{-1}$	1.2 cm$^{-1}$	247.2 cm$^{-1}$
A$_1^\mathrm {TO}$	TE-polarized	12.4 cm$^{-1}$	610.0 cm$^{-1}$	5.1 cm$^{-1}$	612.6 cm$^{-1}$
A$_1^\mathrm {TO}$	TM-polarized	9.8 cm$^{-1}$	609.5 cm$^{-1}$	4.6 cm$^{-1}$	611.6 cm$^{-1}$
E$_2^\mathrm {high}$	TE-polarized	11.7 cm$^{-1}$	655.0 cm$^{-1}$	3.8 cm$^{-1}$	659.4 cm$^{-1}$
E$_1^\mathrm {TO}$	TE-polarized	NA	667.1 cm$^{-1}$	3.7 cm$^{-1}$	672.4 cm$^{-1}$
E$_1^\mathrm {TO}$	TM-polarized	12.5 cm$^{-1}$	668.0 cm$^{-1}$	3.5 cm$^{-1}$	671.4 cm$^{-1}$

Material	Year	Pump Region (nm)	$Q$-Factor (1 $\times$ 10$^6$)	Pump Power (mW)	Bandwidth	$f_\mathrm {rep}$ (GHz)	Ref.
Silica	2011^a	1550	270	2500	990–2170 nm	850	[385]
Si$_3$N$_4$	2011^a	1550	0.1	400	1170–2350 nm	226	[386]
	2017	1550	1.0	120	1100–2300 nm	1000	[370]
	2017	1550	1.3	455	135–285 THz	1000	[371]
	2017	1310	1.3	245	150–350 THz	1000	[371]
	2018	1550	NA	200	130–310 THz	1000	[387]
	2019	1064	1.0	NA	180–390 THz	1000	[388]
	2020	1550	NA	33	125–280 THz	1000	[372]
	2020	1064	NA	40	175–375 THz	1000	[372]
	2022	1550	1.1	140	125–320 THz	1000	[379]
AlN	2021^a	1550	1.1	250	1150–2400 nm	364	[375]
	2021	1550	1.4	335	130–273 THz	374	[376]
	2021	1550	1.6	390	130–285 THz	433	[131]
			NA	NA	125–395 THz	360
			2.5	1000	125–280 THz	220
TFLN	2021	1550	1.15	600	125–268 THz	200	[381]
4H-SiC	2022^a	1550	1.25	120	1100–2400 nm	NA	[382]

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