Bounded frequency lattices in integrated lithium niobate coupled ring cavities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a lithium niobate integrated photonic system that simulates a one-dimensional frequency lattice with sharp boundaries, enabling exploration of topological physics and optical information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated coupled ring cavity system in lithium niobate that creates robust frequency boundaries for topological and photonic applications.

Findings

Successfully simulated a 7-site frequency lattice with boundaries.

Achieved suppression of two coupling terms using a single auxiliary cavity.

Verified lattice dynamics through discretized band structures.

Abstract

Synthetic dimensions provide a powerful tool that uses comparatively simple structures to probe high-dimensional topological physics, in which edge states emerging at lattice boundaries are of great importance. However, the demonstration of lattice boundaries in synthetic dimensions is relatively nascent. In this work, we realize an integrated coupled ring system in a thin-film lithium niobate photonic platform that enables the simulation of one-dimensional frequency crystal lattice with sharp boundaries, attaining suppression for two coupling terms with a single auxiliary cavity. Their effect on tight-binding lattice dynamics was verified by acquiring discretized band structures of an N = 7 site lattice. The ability to create robust frequency-space boundaries is a key step toward the realization of topological systems that harness bulk-edge correspondence as well as optical information processing in a photonic chip.