Cited by 249Photorefractive and Nonlinear OpticsPhotonic and Optical DevicesOptical and Acousto-Optic Technologies

Lithium Tantalate Photonic Integrated Circuits for Volume Manufacturing

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Wang, Chengli, Li, Zihan, Riemensberger, Johann, Lihachev, Grigory, Churaev, Mikhail, Kao, Wil, Ji, Xinru, Zhang, Junyin +7 more·2024·Nature

Abstract

Abstract Electro-optical photonic integrated circuits (PICs) based on lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) have demonstrated the vast capabilities of materials with a high Pockels coefficient 1,2 . They enable linear and high-speed modulators operating at complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor voltage levels 3 to be used in applications including data-centre communications 4 , high-performance computing and photonic accelerators for AI 5 . However, industrial use of this technology is hindered by the high cost per wafer and the limited wafer size. The high cost results from the lack of existing high-volume applications in other domains of the sort that accelerated the adoption of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonics, which was driven by vast investment in microelectronics. Here we report low-loss PICs made of lithium tantalate (LiTaO 3 ), a material that has already been adopted commercially for 5G radiofrequency filters 6 and therefore enables scalable manufacturing at low cost, and it has equal, and in some cases superior, properties to LiNbO 3 . We show that LiTaO 3 can be etched to create low-loss (5.6 dB m −1 ) PICs using a deep ultraviolet (DUV) stepper-based manufacturing process 7 . We demonstrate a LiTaO 3 Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) with a half-wave voltage–length product of 1.9 V cm and an electro-optic bandwidth of up to 40 GHz. In comparison with LiNbO 3 , LiTaO 3 exhibits a much lower birefringence, enabling high-density circuits and broadband operation over all telecommunication bands. Moreover, the platform supports the generation of soliton microcombs. Our work paves the way for the scalable manufacture of low-cost and large-volume next-generation electro-optical PICs.

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  • Stoichiometric complex oxide thin films promise ultrafast light control and massive optical parallelism, which classical electronic systems cannot achieve.

    “Current trends in the field of photonics regarding the transition from bulk crystalbased devices to photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and, more specifically, to nonlinear integrated photonics, propel the utilisation of thin films based on stoichiometric complex oxides (such as lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, and barium titanate) since they simultaneously promise both ultrafast light control”

    From Metal Oxide Thin Films for Advanced Photonic Applications (2026) · cites this paper as [165]

    The Abstract and Electro-optical modulation section support high-speed light control in lithium tantalate thin-film PICs, including a measured electro-optic bandwidth above 40 GHz. The paper also discusses lithium niobate, but the passages do not establish the claim for barium titanate or address massive optical parallelism or what classical electronic systems cannot achieve. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [37]Wang, J., Chen, P., Dai, D. & Liu, L. Polarization coupling of X -cut thin film lithium niobate based waveguides. IEEE Photonics J. 12, 2200310 (2020).

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Authors
Wang, C., Li, Z., Riemensberger, J., Lihachev, G., Churaev, M., Kao, W., Ji, X., Zhang, J., Blesin, T., Davydova, A., Chen, Y., Huang, K., Wang, X., Ou, X., & Kippenberg, T. J.
Affiliations
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
  • Ou, Xin
  • Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Venue
Nature
Published
2024-05-08
Volume
629
Issue
8013
Pages
784-790
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W4396732481
Cited by
248
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 106 · 2025: 105 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 2
FWCI
39.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, public-domain)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Funders
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (201923)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (2019-23, 62293521)
  • China Scholarship Council
  • HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
  • Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • H2020 European Research Council (835329)
  • HORIZON EUROPE European Innovation Council (101113260)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Photonic and Optical Devices
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Optical and Acousto-Optic Technologies
Keywords
lithium tantalate, photonic integrated circuits, electro-optic modulator, Mach-Zehnder modulator, low-loss waveguides, high-volume manufacturing, soliton microcombs, birefringence, electro-optic bandwidth, lithium niobate comparison, telecom band

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