Monolithic piezoelectric control of soliton microcombs

TL;DR

This paper introduces integrated piezoelectric AlN actuators on silicon nitride photonic circuits for high-speed, low-power control of soliton microcombs, enabling fast tuning, stabilization, and applications like FMCW LiDAR.

Contribution

The work demonstrates monolithic integration of AlN piezoelectric actuators with ultralow-loss Si3N4 microresonators for high-speed, linear, low-hysteresis microcomb control, surpassing thermal tuning bandwidths.

Findings

Achieved flat actuation response up to megahertz frequencies.

Demonstrated voltage-controlled soliton tuning, modulation, and stabilization.

Enabled a microcomb engine for parallel FMCW LiDAR with low-voltage drive.

Abstract

High-speed laser frequency actuation is critical in all applications employing lasers and frequency combs, and is prerequisite for phase locking, frequency stabilization and stability transfer among multiple optical carriers. Soliton microcombs have emerged as chip-scale, broadband and low-power-consumption frequency comb sources.Yet, integrated microcombs relying on thermal heaters for on-chip actuation all exhibit only kilohertz actuation bandwidth. Consequently, high-speed actuation and locking of microcombs have been attained only with off-chip bulk modulators. Here, we present high-speed microcomb actuation using integrated components. By monolithically integrating piezoelectric AlN actuators on ultralow-loss Si3N4 photonic circuits, we demonstrate voltage-controlled soliton tuning, modulation and stabilization. The integrated AlN actuators feature bi-directional tuning with high linearity and low hysteresis, operate with 300 nW power and exhibit flat actuation response up to megahertz frequency, significantly exceeding bulk piezo tuning bandwidth. We use this novel capability to demonstrate a microcomb engine for parallel FMCW LiDAR, via synchronously tuning the laser and microresonator. By applying a triangular sweep at the modulation rate matching the frequency spacing of HBAR modes, we exploit the resonant build-up of bulk acoustic energy to significantly lower the required driving to a CMOS voltage of only 7 Volts. Our approach endows soliton microcombs with integrated, ultralow-power-consumption, and fast actuation, significantly expanding the repertoire of technological applications.