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Scalable Heterogeneous Integration of Quadratic Nonlinearities on Silicon Photonics

par Vandekerckhove, Tom
Président du jury De Turck, Filip
Promoteur Clemmen, Stéphane ;Kuyken, Bart
Publication Non publié, 2025-11-28

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

This research focuses on new methods for manipulating light waves by cleverly combining different materials. Silicon photonics, a technology already widely used to guide light on chips, is efficient and scalable, but it lacks the ability to change the color (frequency) of light. Lithium niobate does have that property, but it is difficult to integrate on a large scale.In this thesis, a technique was developed to “stamp” thin layers of lithium niobate onto silicon-photonics chips as ready-made building blocks. In addition, a method was optimized to “pole” the material in such a way that light waves interact in precisely the right manner, enabling efficient frequency conversion. Using this approach, the first integrated components have been demonstrated that offer both high efficiency and scalability.The results open the door to a wide range of applications: from compact light sources and high-speed modulators to chips that generate entangled photons for quantum computers. By combining the strong optical properties of lithium niobate with the mass-production and integration capabilities of silicon photonics, this work represents an important step toward large-scale, practical optical systems for both telecommunications and future quantum technologies.