Ko Kiyoung, Suk Daewon, Kim Dohyeong, Park Soobong, Sen Betul, Kim Dae-Gon, Wang Yingying, Dai Shixun, Wang Xunsi, Wang Rongping, Chun Byung Jae, Ko Kwang-Hoon, Rakich Peter T, Choi Duk-Yong, Lee Hansuek
Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 19;16(1):2707. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58010-2.
Ultra-high-Q optical resonators have facilitated advancements in on-chip photonics by harnessing nonlinear functionalities. While these breakthroughs, primarily focused on the near-infrared region, have extended interest to longer wavelengths holding importance for molecule science, the absence of ultra-high-Q resonators in this region remains a significant challenge. Here, we have developed on-chip microresonators with a remarkable Q-factor of 38 million at 3.86 μm wavelength, surpassing previous records by over 30 times. Employing innovative fabrication techniques, including spontaneous formation of light-guiding geometries with internal multilayer structures during material deposition, major loss factors, such as airborne-chemical absorption, were investigated and addressed. This allowed us to access the fundamental loss performance demonstrated by chalcogenide glass fibers. Leveraging this resonator, we demonstrated an on-chip Brillouin lasing in the mid-infrared with a 91.9 μW threshold power and an 83.5 Hz Schawlow-Townes linewidth. Our results showcase the effective integration of cavity-enhanced optical nonlinearities into on-chip mid-infrared photonics.
超高Q值光学谐振器通过利用非线性功能推动了片上光子学的发展。虽然这些突破主要集中在近红外区域，并将研究兴趣扩展到对分子科学具有重要意义的更长波长，但该区域缺乏超高Q值谐振器仍然是一个重大挑战。在此，我们开发了一种片上微谐振器，在3.86μm波长处具有高达3800万的卓越品质因数，比之前的记录高出30多倍。采用创新的制造技术，包括在材料沉积过程中自发形成具有内部多层结构的光导几何形状，研究并解决了诸如空气化学吸收等主要损耗因素。这使我们能够达到硫系玻璃光纤所展示的基本损耗性能。利用这种谐振器，我们展示了在中红外波段的片上布里渊激光，其阈值功率为91.9μW，肖洛-汤斯线宽为83.5Hz。我们的结果展示了腔增强光学非线性在片上中红外光子学中的有效集成。
