SBIR Phase I: Liquid Phase Epitaxy of Potassium Tantalum Niobate on Low Dielectric Constant Substrates

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop the Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) of potassium tantalum niobate (KTN) on a cubic perovskite substrate. This film material will have much higher electrooptic coefficients than current generation lithium niobate waveguides. This project proposes to develop new, low dielectric constant substrate materials that will enable better matching of the effective microwave dielectric constant to the optical dielectric constant of the film material and lower bias fields. In Phase I, the researchers will identify congruently melting substrate materials with suitable lattice parameter match to KTN that can be grown by the Czochralski method. Various flux systems and growth conditions will be tested to find those most conducive to LPE growth of good quality films. Electrooptic devices are used in communications, analog and digital signal processing, information processing, optical computing and sensing. Devices include phase and amplitude modulators, multiplexers, switch arrays, couplers, polarization controllers, deflectors, correlators and sensors. The proposed work will enable electrooptic modulators and innovative new device applications with lower costs, smaller footprints and lower power budgets. All this contributes to improvements of the infrastructure of the Internet and more rapid, lower cost deployment, especially in the local loop.