Lithium niobate microring with ultra-high Q factor above 108

Abstract

We demonstrate integrated lithium niobate (LN) microring resonators with Q factors close to the intrinsic material absorption limit of LN. The microrings are fabricated on pristine LN thin-film wafers thinned from LN bulk via chemo-mechanical etching without ion slicing and ion etching. A record-high Q factor up to 10 8 at the wavelength of 1550 nm is achieved because of the ultra-smooth interface of the microrings and the absence of ion-induced lattice damage, indicating an ultra-low waveguide propagation loss of 0.0034 dB=cm. The ultra-high Q microrings will pave the way for integrated quantum light source, frequency comb generation, and nonlinear optical processes.