Low-loss c-axis oriented Zn0.72Mg0.28O nonlinear planar optical waveguides on silicon

Lei Meng; Hongyu Chai; Zunren Lv; Tao Yang

doi:10.1364/OE.421932

Low-loss c-axis oriented Zn_0.72Mg_0.28O nonlinear planar optical waveguides on silicon

Opt Express. 2021 Mar 29;29(7):11301-11313. doi: 10.1364/OE.421932.

Authors

Lei Meng, Hongyu Chai, Zunren Lv, Tao Yang

PMID: 33820245
DOI: 10.1364/OE.421932

Abstract

A material platform of highly c-axis oriented Zn_1-xMg_xO thin films is developed for nonlinear planar waveguides and electro-optic modulators on Si. Mg content in the film greatly influences the quality of film growth. The second harmonic generation measurement and Maker-fringe analysis reveal that the second-order nonlinear susceptibility tensor element χ₃₃ of the annealed Zn_0.72Mg_0.28O is approximately 4.2 times larger than that of ZnO. The propagation loss of 633 nm wavelength light in the annealed air/Zn_0.72Mg_0.28O/SiO₂ slab waveguide is 0.68 ± 0.09 dB/cm and 0.48 ± 0.03 dB/cm for the TE0 and TM0 modes, respectively. These results suggest the great potential of the c-axis oriented Zn_0.72Mg_0.28O nonlinear planar waveguides for applications in on-chip optical interconnects.