Gigahertz-frequency acousto-optic phase modulation of visible light in a CMOS-fabricated photonic circuit

Optical phase modulators operating at visible wavelengths are essential components for photonic technologies such as those for quantum control, communications, and laser ranging. However, they remain challenging to implement in scalable, integrated platforms capable of handling high optical powers. Here we present a visible-light, gigahertz-frequency acousto-optic phase modulator, fabricated on a 200-mm wafer in a volume CMOS foundry, that supports greater than 500 mW of optical power at 730 nm. The device combines a piezoelectric transducer and a photonic waveguide within a single, wavelength-scale structure that confines both a propagating optical mode and an electrically excitable breathing-mode mechanical resonance. By tuning the device’s geometry to optimize the optomechanical interaction, we achieve modulation depths up to 4.85 rad with 80 mW of applied microwave power at 2.31 GHz in a 2-mm-long device. This corresponds to resonant modulation figures of merit of Vπ = 1.32V and Vπ ⋅ L = 0.26V cm. To our knowledge, this is the lowest Vπ ever demonstrated in any acousto-optic phase modulator and represents a 15-fold reduction in Vπ and a 100-fold reduction in required microwave power relative to state-of-the-art modulators with high visible-wavelength power handling commonly employed in quantum control systems. The authors present an integrated acousto-optic modulator fabricated in a wafer-scale process that realizes efficient, high-speed modulation of visible light with high optical power handling.