Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device
Abstract Investigating physical models with photonic synthetic dimensions has been generating great interest in vast fields of science. The rapidly developing thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, for its numerous advantages including high electro-optic coefficient and scalability, is well comp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63114-w |
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| author | Zhao-An Wang Xiao-Dong Zeng Yi-Tao Wang Jia-Ming Ren Chun Ao Zhi-Peng Li Wei Liu Nai-Jie Guo Lin-Ke Xie Jun-You Liu Yu-Hang Ma Ya-Qi Wu Xi-Wang Luo Shuang Wang Jian-Shun Tang Chuan-Feng Li Guang-Can Guo |
| author_facet | Zhao-An Wang Xiao-Dong Zeng Yi-Tao Wang Jia-Ming Ren Chun Ao Zhi-Peng Li Wei Liu Nai-Jie Guo Lin-Ke Xie Jun-You Liu Yu-Hang Ma Ya-Qi Wu Xi-Wang Luo Shuang Wang Jian-Shun Tang Chuan-Feng Li Guang-Can Guo |
| author_sort | Zhao-An Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Investigating physical models with photonic synthetic dimensions has been generating great interest in vast fields of science. The rapidly developing thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, for its numerous advantages including high electro-optic coefficient and scalability, is well compatible with the realization of synthetic dimensions in the frequency together with spatial domain. While coupling resonators with fixed beam splitters is a common experimental approach, it often lacks tunability and limits coupling between adjacent lattices to sites occupying the same frequency domain positions. Here, on the contrary, we conceive the resonator arrays connected by electro-optic tunable Mach–Zehnder interferometers in our configuration instead of fixed beam splitters. By applying bias voltage and RF modulation on the interferometers, our design extends such coupling to long-range scenario and allows for continuous tuning on each coupling strength and synthetic effective magnetic flux. Therefore, our design enriches controllable coupling types that are essential for building programmable lattice networks and significantly increases versatility. As the example, we experimentally fabricate a two-resonator prototype on the TFLN platform, and on this single chip we realize well-known models including tight-binding lattices, the Hall ladder and Creutz ladder. We directly observe the band structures in the quasi-momentum space and important phenomena such as spin-momentum locking, flat band and the Aharonov–Bohm cage effect. These results demonstrate the potential for convenient simulations of more complex models in our configuration. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e2064fdd1bcc4c0d9ebbea1183c3d969 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-e2064fdd1bcc4c0d9ebbea1183c3d9692025-08-24T11:37:46ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-08-011611710.1038/s41467-025-63114-wVersatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip deviceZhao-An Wang0Xiao-Dong Zeng1Yi-Tao Wang2Jia-Ming Ren3Chun Ao4Zhi-Peng Li5Wei Liu6Nai-Jie Guo7Lin-Ke Xie8Jun-You Liu9Yu-Hang Ma10Ya-Qi Wu11Xi-Wang Luo12Shuang Wang13Jian-Shun Tang14Chuan-Feng Li15Guang-Can Guo16CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of ChinaAbstract Investigating physical models with photonic synthetic dimensions has been generating great interest in vast fields of science. The rapidly developing thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, for its numerous advantages including high electro-optic coefficient and scalability, is well compatible with the realization of synthetic dimensions in the frequency together with spatial domain. While coupling resonators with fixed beam splitters is a common experimental approach, it often lacks tunability and limits coupling between adjacent lattices to sites occupying the same frequency domain positions. Here, on the contrary, we conceive the resonator arrays connected by electro-optic tunable Mach–Zehnder interferometers in our configuration instead of fixed beam splitters. By applying bias voltage and RF modulation on the interferometers, our design extends such coupling to long-range scenario and allows for continuous tuning on each coupling strength and synthetic effective magnetic flux. Therefore, our design enriches controllable coupling types that are essential for building programmable lattice networks and significantly increases versatility. As the example, we experimentally fabricate a two-resonator prototype on the TFLN platform, and on this single chip we realize well-known models including tight-binding lattices, the Hall ladder and Creutz ladder. We directly observe the band structures in the quasi-momentum space and important phenomena such as spin-momentum locking, flat band and the Aharonov–Bohm cage effect. These results demonstrate the potential for convenient simulations of more complex models in our configuration.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63114-w |
| spellingShingle | Zhao-An Wang Xiao-Dong Zeng Yi-Tao Wang Jia-Ming Ren Chun Ao Zhi-Peng Li Wei Liu Nai-Jie Guo Lin-Ke Xie Jun-You Liu Yu-Hang Ma Ya-Qi Wu Xi-Wang Luo Shuang Wang Jian-Shun Tang Chuan-Feng Li Guang-Can Guo Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device Nature Communications |
| title | Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device |
| title_full | Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device |
| title_fullStr | Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device |
| title_full_unstemmed | Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device |
| title_short | Versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on-chip device |
| title_sort | versatile photonic frequency synthetic dimensions using a single programmable on chip device |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63114-w |
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