1.T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
2.Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
3.School of Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
4.Department of Physics, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
5.Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Hao-Jing Chen (haojing@caltech.edu)
Kellan Colburn (kcolburn@caltech.edu)
Kerry Vahala (vahala@caltech.edu)
收稿:2025-12-01,
修回:2026-05-16,
录用:2026-05-16,
网络首发:2026-06-04,
纸质出版:2026-08-31
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Hao-Jing Chen, Kellan Colburn, Hanfei Hou, 等. Ultrahigh-
Chen, H. J. et al. Ultrahigh-Q integrated flame-hydrolysis-deposited germano-silicate resonators on silicon. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2884-2891 (2026).
Hao-Jing Chen, Kellan Colburn, Hanfei Hou, 等. Ultrahigh-
Chen, H. J. et al. Ultrahigh-Q integrated flame-hydrolysis-deposited germano-silicate resonators on silicon. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2884-2891 (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02353-y.
Optical fibres
owing to their ultra-low transmission loss
underpin global telecommunications. However
this remarkable low-loss performan
ce has not been extended to integrated photonic devices
which are increasingly critical for data-intensive communications in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). Here
we translate the widely adopted mass-production process for fibre manufacturing—flame hydrolysis—to wafer-scale integrated photonics
and demonstrate ultrahigh-
Q
integrated microresonators. By leveraging high GeO
2
doping
the deposited germano-silicate (Ge:silica) films achieve full densification at moderate thermal budgets
while also allowing for a post-processing furnace-reflow technique that has the capability to both repair any etch-induced defects and enhance optical
Q
leading to a high degree of process tolerance. When combined with deep-UV lithography
these films form microresonators exhibiting ultrahigh
Q
factors of up to 566 million at 1064 nm
corresponding to a waveguide propagation loss as low as 0.07 dB m
−1
. Like their fibre counterparts
these devices exhibit a broad transmission window with
Q
factors surpassing 100 million demonstrated from the telecommunications band to the violet spectrum. Moreover
the width dependence of
Q
factor and a two-order-of-magnitude
Q
recovery enabled by the furnace reflow process are also demonstrated. This work extends high-quality
high-rate flame hydrolysis deposition (FHD) from optical fibre manufacturing to integrated photonics
establishing a scalable route towards fibre-level loss in photonic integrated circuits.
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