Electrical engineering

Physics

Free spectral range

Lithium niobate

Resonator

Optics

Engineering

Materials science

Photonics

Efficient energy use

Silicon

Optoelectronics

Wavelength

Optics Letters

We demonstrate a high-efficiency thermo-optic (TO) tunable micro-ring resonator in thin-film lithium niobate. Thermal insulation trenches around the heated micro-ring resonator and the underlying silicon substrate significantly reduce the heating power consumption and improve the tuning efficiency. Compared to conventional TO devices without thermal insulation trenches, the proposed device achieves a full free spectral range wavelength shift with a 14.9 mW heating power, corresponding to a thermal tuning efficiency of 53.7 pm/mW, a more than 20-fold improvement of tuning efficiency. The approach enables energy-efficient high-performance TO devices such as optical switches, wavelength routers, and other reconfigurable photonic devices.

Highly efficient thermo-optic tunable micro-ring resonator based on an LNOI platform