Two materials, one photonic chip: Researchers unlock new way to generate light frequencies

Researchers demonstrated a photonic chip that combines optical nonlinearities from two different materials in a single device. By using a silicon nitride core for frequency-comb generation and a silica cladding for Raman gain, the team achieved Raman lasing in a platform where it had not previously been observed. Increasing the optical power produced broadband Raman–Kerr frequency combs, while engineering the device geometry expanded the comb bandwidth to more than 400 nm. The results show how combining complementary optical properties from different materials can enable new chip-scale light sources and frequency-conversion devices for applications in spectroscopy, sensing, communications, and precision measurement.

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