Photonic integrated circuits in the continuum

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation and control of bound states in the continuum (BICs) within a novel photonic architecture, enabling advanced integrated photonic components and potential applications in quantum information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a new method to realize BICs in a low-refractive-index material on a high-refractive-index substrate, facilitating integrated photonic circuits without complex patterning of single-crystal materials.

Findings

Demonstrated BIC-based waveguides, microcavities, and modulators.

Achieved elimination of dissipation to substrate continuum.

Enabled scalable photonic quantum information processing.

Abstract

Waves that are perfectly confined in the continuous spectrum of radiating waves without interaction with them are known as bound states in the continuum (BICs). Despite recent discoveries of BICs in nanophotonics, full routing and control of BICs are yet to be explored. Here, we experimentally demonstrate BICs in a fundamentally new photonic architecture by patterning a low-refractive-index material on a high-refractive-index substrate, where dissipation to the substrate continuum is eliminated by engineering the geometric parameters. Pivotal BIC-based photonic components are demonstrated, including waveguides, microcavities, directional couplers, and modulators. Therefore, this work presents the critical step of photonic integrated circuits in the continuum, and enables the exploration of new single-crystal materials on an integrated photonic platform without the fabrication challenges of patterning the single-crystal materials. The demonstrated lithium niobate platform will facilitate development of functional photonic integrated circuits for optical communications, nonlinear optics at the single photon level as well as scalable photonic quantum information processors.