Open AccessTantalum pentoxide nanophotonic circuits for integrated quantum technology
Author(s) -
Lukas Johannes Splitthoff,
Martin A. Wolff,
Thomas Grottke,
Carsten Schuck
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.388080
Subject(s) - nanophotonics , photonics , photonic integrated circuit , tantalum pentoxide , optoelectronics , materials science , quantum optics , electronic circuit , optics , physics , electrical engineering , engineering , dielectric
Nanophotonics holds great promise for integrated quantum technologies, but realizing all functionalities for processing quantum states of light in optical waveguides poses an outstanding challenge. Here we show that tantalum pentoxide-on-insulator offers significant advantages for such purpose and experimentally demonstrate crucial photonic integrated circuit components. Exploiting advanced nanophotonic design and state-of-the-art nanofabrication processes, we realize low-loss waveguiding with 1 dB/cm propagation loss, efficient optical fiber-chip interfaces with more than 100 nm bandwidth, micro-ring resonators with quality factors of 357,200 and tunable directional couplers. We further achieve active functionality with nano-electromechanical phase-shifters. Our work enables reconfigurable photonic circuit configurations in the Ta 2 O 5 material system with highly favorable optical properties for integrated quantum photonics.