Periodically poled lithium niobate whispering gallery mode microcavities on a chip

In this study, we investigate the fabrication of periodically poled lithium niobate(PPLN) microdisk cavities on a chip. These resonators are fabricated from a PPLN film with a 16 μm poling period on insulator using conventional microfabrication techniques.The quality factor of the PPLN microdisk resonators with a 40-μm radius and a 700-nm thickness is 6.7×10~5. Second harmonic generation(SHG) with an efficiency of 2.2×10^(-6) mW(-1) is demonstrated in the fabricated PPLN microdisks. The nonlinear conversion efficiency could be considerably enhanced by optimizing the period and pattern of the poled structure and by improving the cavity quality factors.

Second-harmonic generation using d(33)in periodically poled lithium niobate microdisk resonators

A fabrication process allowing for the production of periodically poled lithium niobate(PPLN)photonic devices with any domain pattern and unit size down to 200 nm is developed by combining semiconductor fabrication techniques and piezo-force-microscopy tips polarization.Based on this fabrication process,PPLN microdisk resonators with quality factors of 8×10~4 were fabricated from a Z-cut lithium niobate film.Second-harmonic generation(SHG)utilizing d(33)in the whole cavity was demonstrated in a PPLN microdisk with a 2μm-spatialperiod radial domain pattern.The SHG conversion efficiency was measured to be 1.44×10^(-5)m W^(-1).This work paves the way to fabricate complex PPLN photonic devices and to obtain efficient nonlinear optical effects that have wide applications in both classical and quantum optics.

Sum-frequency generation in on-chip lithium niobate microdisk resonators

We report the first observation, to the best of our knowledge, of sum-frequency generation in on-chip lithium niobate microdisk resonators. The sum-frequency signal in the 780 nm band, distinct in wavelength from secondharmonic signals, was obtained in lithium niobate microresonators under the pump of two individual 1550 nm band lasers. The sum-frequency conversion efficiency was measured to be 1.4 × 10^(-7) mW^(-1). The dependence of the intensities of the nonlinear signals on the total pump power and the wavelength of one pump laser was investigated while fixing the wavelength of the other. This work paves the way for applications of on-chip lithium niobate microdisk resonators ranging from infrared single-photon detection to infrared spectroscopy.

CRISPR/dCas-mediated gene activation toolkit development and its application for parthenogenesis induction in maize

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-Cas systems can be engineered as programmable transcription factors to either activate(CRISPRa)or inhibit transcription.Apomixis is extremely valuable for the seed industry in breeding clonal seeds with pure genetic backgrounds.We report here a CRISPR/dCas9-based toolkit equippedwith dCas9-VP64 andMS2-p65-HSF1 effectors that may specifically target genes with high activation capability.We explored the application of in vivo CRISPRa targeting of maize BABY BOOM2(ZmBBM2),acting as a fertilization checkpoint,as a means to engineer parthenogenesis.We detected ZmBBM2 transcripts only in egg cells but not in other maternal gametic cells.Activation of ZmBBM2 in egg cells in vivo caused maternal cell-autonomous parthenogenesis to produce haploid seeds.Our work provides a highly specific gene-activation CRISPRa technology for target cells and verifies its application for parthenogenesis induction in maize.

A whispering-gallery scanning microprobe for Raman spectroscopy and imaging

Optical whispering-gallery-mode microsensors are a promising platform for many applications,such as biomedical monitoring,magnetic sensing,and vibration detection.However,like many other micro/nanosensors,they cannot simultaneously have two critical properties–ultrahigh sensitivity and large detection area,which are desired for most sensing applications.Here,we report a novel scanning whispering-gallery-mode microprobe optimized for both features and demonstrate enhanced Raman spectroscopy,providing high-specificity information on molecular fingerprints that are important for numerous sensing applications.Combining the superiorities of whispering-gallery modes and nanoplasmonics,the microprobe exhibits a two-orders-of-magnitude sensitivity improvement over traditional plasmonics-only enhancement;this leads to molecular detection demonstrated with stronger target signals but less optical power required than surface-enhanced-Raman-spectroscopy substrates.Furthermore,the scanning microprobe greatly expands the effective detection area and realizes two-dimensional micron-resolution Raman imaging of molecular distribution.The versatile and ultrasensitive scanning microprobe configuration will thus benefit material characterization,chemical imaging,and quantum-enhanced sensing.