{
  "abstract": "The mid-infrared (MIR) spectral regime is central to applications including remote sensing, precision spectroscopy, higher harmonic generation, and free-space optical communication. However, coherent and broadband MIR modulation remains challenging owing to high optical loss, limited bandwidth, and large drive voltages in existing platforms. Here, we overcome the challenges by deploying a suspended thin-film lithium-niobate (TFLN) based electro-optic (EO) platform co-designed with high-performance traveling-wave microwave (MW) electrodes. We demonstrate a record-low Vπ,DC of 2.3 to 4.3 V over a broadband MIR bandwidth from 2.4 to 3.6 μm, and a 2.3-dB EO bandwidth of 40 GHz (extracted 3-dB bandwidth of 52 GHz), yielding a figure-of-merit of 19.3 GHz/V-more than an order of magnitude higher than the state-of-the-art. We demonstrate, for the first time, high-frequency Vπ,MW of 4.5-6.5 V in the 27-34 GHz range, and frequency-agile MIR EO frequency comb generation with a 10-dB optical bandwidth over 0.8 THz using a suspended phase modulator of 4-cm active modulation length. We further validate the platform in a free-space optical communication link. Our results establish a monolithic MIR photonic platform capable of powerful EO modulation and spectral synthesis, and present a significant step towards reconfigurable MIR sensing and communication systems on chip.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.",
    "Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.",
    "PHY Research Lab, Intel lab, Hillsboro, OR, USA.",
    "Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.",
    "TOPTICA Photonics Inc., Pittsford, NY, USA.",
    "School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.",
    "Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel.",
    "Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. mengjie.yu@berkeley.edu.",
    "Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. mengjie.yu@berkeley.edu.",
    "Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA. mengjie.yu@berkeley.edu."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Chun-Ho Lee",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1985-9109"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xinyi Ren"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xinzhou Su",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2520-4475"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Wonho Lee",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8159-9067"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zile Jiang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Yue Yu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Huibin Zhou",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5570-0950"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yue Zuo",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-2104-3711"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Shaoyuan Ou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Reshma Kopparapu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Adam T Heiniger",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0964-3048"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Moshe Tur"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Alan E Willner",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7339-4376"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zaijun Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Mengjie Yu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7815-4195"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60fbeahgwcwhj.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-77674-y",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13680620",
  "id": "60fbeahgwcwhj",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897127",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7125804378",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13680620?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13680620",
  "pmid": "42897127",
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60fbeahgwcwhj.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42897127",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897127"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3107|Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Suspended thin-film lithium niobate modulator for broadband mid-infrared light modulation and frequency comb generation.",
  "title_text": "Suspended thin-film lithium niobate modulator for broadband mid-infrared light modulation and frequency comb generation.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60fbeahgwcwhj",
  "venue": "Nature communications",
  "versions": []
}