Structure and electro-optical properties of SrxBa1-xNb2O6 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy.*

With the rise of processor speed, optical fibers are replacing copper wires in carrying data between computer boards. Silicon photonics has applications in not only chip interconnects, but also neuromorphic and quantum computing. The Pockels effect offers a way to build fast, low power modulators of optical signals. The Pockels effect uses an electric field to change the index of refraction in a material. One can make devices that encode or alter information using the phase of light. SrxBa1-xNb2O6 (SBN) has been shown to have one of the highest available Pockels coefficients (~850pm/V). SBN was grown by molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO3 (STO) substrates and STO can be used to integrate materials on Si. The growth was monitored with Reflective High Energy Electron Diffraction. Composition and oxidation states were measured in-situ by X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy. X-Ray Diffraction was used to verify the crystal phase and orientation of the SBN crystal.