Second-harmonic generation in periodically-poled thin film lithium niobate wafer-bonded on silicon

Abstract: Second-order optical nonlinear effects (second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation) are demonstrated in the telecommunication band by periodic poling of thin films of lithium niobate wafer-bonded on silicon substrates and rib-loaded with silicon nitride channels to attain ridge waveguide with cross-sections of ~ 2 {\mu}m2. The compactness of the waveguides results in efficient second-order nonlinear devices. A nonlinear conversion of 8% is obtained with a pulsed input in 4 mm long waveguides. The choice of silicon substrate makes the platform potentially compatible with silicon photonics, and therefore may pave the path towards on-chip nonlinear and quantum-optic applications.