Nonlinear nanocrystals for electro-optic and quantum devices //

The constant evolution of lithium niobate, from a bulk material already widely used in telecommunications to a thin film is opening many functional applications on chip. Thanks to two technological advances, thin film fabrication and nanolithography etching processes, lithium niobate is becoming a reliable platform for photonic integration from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared [1].
I will present recent advances in the nanofabrication process flow to achieve building blocks for electro- optic and quantum devices [2].
Finally, I will also mention the generation of photon pairs from free-standing lithium niobate microcubes and GaAs nanowires at the telecommunication wavelength through the spontaneous parametric down- conversion process [3].

Rachel Grange leads the Optical Nanomaterial Group at ETHZ

[1] Rabiei, P.; Gunter, P. Optical and Electro-Optical Properties of Submicrometer Lithium Niobate Slab Waveguides Prepared by Crystal Ion Slicing and Wafer Bonding. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2004, 85 (20), 4603–4605.

[2] Kaufmann, F.; Finco, G.; Maeder, A.; Grange, R. Redeposition-Free Inductively-Coupled Plasma Etching of Lithium Niobate for Integrated Photonics. Nanophotonics 2023, 12 (8), 1601–1611.

[3] Saerens, G.; Dursap, T.; Hesner, I.; Duong, N. M. H.; Solntsev, A. S.; Morandi, A.; Maeder, A.; Karvounis, A.; Regreny, P.; Chapman, R. J.; Danescu, A.; Chauvin, N.; Penuelas, J.; Grange, R. Background-Free Near-Infrared Biphoton Emission from Single GaAs Nanowires. Nano Lett. 2023, 23 (8), 3245–3250.