Research Article Vol. 5, No. 2 / February 2018 / Optica 219 Low-loss prism-waveguide optical coupling for ultrahigh-Q low-index monolithic resonators 1,† 2,† 1 1 1 GUANGYAO LIU, VLADIMIR S. ILCHENKO, TIEHUI SU, YI-CHUN LING, SHAOQI FENG, 1 1 2 2 2 KUANPING SHANG, YU ZHANG, WEI LIANG, ANATOLIY A. SAVCHENKOV, ANDREY B. MATSKO, 2 1, LUTE MALEKI, AND S. J. BEN YOO * 1Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California-Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA 2OEwaves Inc., 465 North Halstead Street, Suite 140, Pasadena, California 91107, USA *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Received 31 October 2017; revised 29 December 2017; accepted 17 January 2018 (Doc. ID 310191); published 20 February 2018 While compact and low-loss optical coupling to ultrahigh-quality-factor (Q) crystalline resonators is important for a wide range of applications, the major challenge for achieving this coupling stems from the relatively low refractive index of the crystalline resonator host material compared to those of the standard waveguide coupling materials. We report the first demonstration of a single-mode waveguide structure (prism-waveguide coupler) integrated on a low- loss compact silicon nitride platform resulting in low-loss and efficient coupling to magnesium fluoride crystalline resonators by achieving the phase-matched and the mode-matched evanescent wave coupling. The coupling is char- acterized with 1 dB loss at 1550 nm wavelength. We further present a photonic integrated chip containing a pair of waveguides successfully coupling light into and out of the resonator, demonstrating a planar-waveguide-coupled crystalline resonator with a loaded Q of 1.9 × 109.