Heterogeneously Integrated Efficient and Widely Tunable Lasers at 795 nm for Rubidium-Based Quantum Technologies

Abstract:Scaling quantum processors and optical atomic clocks fundamentally requires orders-of-magnitude reductions in the size, weight, power, and cost of optical control systems. Photonic integration of lasers is critical to fulfill these requirements. At the near-infrared wavelengths required for atomic clocks and quantum computing through manipulation of rubidium atoms, laser integration is hindered by difficulty in light coupling and poor heat dissipation. Here, we introduce a wafer-scalable method utilizing micro-transfer printing to integrate GaAs-based amplifiers in etched recesses, directly butt-coupled to silicon nitride waveguides. We demonstrate extended-cavity single-mode lasers using this integration approach. Our compact microgear laser achieves a narrow 3 kHz fundamental linewidth at an on-chip output power of >22 mW -- a record for a single-mode heterogeneously integrated laser in the 780-800 nm band -- with a wall-plug efficiency of 9.4%, showcasing the high-power and efficiency potential of this integration approach. Additionally, we demonstrate a widely tunable laser leveraging Vernier filters to achieve lasing with 9 nm coarse tuning, a quasi-continuous fine-tuning range exceeding 140 GHz, and a mode-hop-free tuning range of 45 GHz. Our scalable integrated laser toolkit shows great promise for replacing macroscopic external-cavity diode lasers in next-generation quantum technologies and optical atomic clocks.

12 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Supplementary information (4 pages, 2 figures) is included as an ancillary file

Optics (physics.optics); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

arXiv:2609.11585 [physics.optics]

(or arXiv:2609.11585v1 [physics.optics] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.11585 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

supplementary.pdf

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