Towards fibre-like loss for photonic integration from violet to near-infrared

Over the past decades, remarkable progress has been made in reducing the loss of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) within the telecom band1–4, facilitating on-chip applications spanning low-noise optical5 and microwave synthesis6, to lidar7 and photonic artificial intelligence engines8. However, several obstacles arise from the marked increase in material absorption and scattering losses at shorter wavelengths9,10, which prominently elevate power requirements and limit performance in the visible and near-visible spectrum. Here we present an ultralow-loss PIC platform based on germano-silicate—the material underlying the extraordinary performance of optical fibre—but realized by a fully CMOS-foundry-compatible process. These PICs achieve resonator Q factors surpassing 180 million from violet to telecom wavelengths. They also attain a 10-dB higher quality factor without thermal treatment in the telecom band, expanding opportunities for heterogeneous integration with active components11. Other features of this platform include readily engineered waveguide dispersion, acoustic mode confinement and large-mode-area-induced thermal stability—each demonstrated by soliton microcomb generation, stimulated Brillouin lasing and low-frequency-noise self-injection locking, respectively. The success of these germano-silicate PICs can ultimately enable fibre-like loss onto a chip, leading to an additional 20-dB improvement in waveguide loss over the current highest performance photonic platforms. Moreover, the performance abilities demonstrated here bridge ultralow-loss PIC technology to optical clocks12, precision navigation systems13 and quantum sensors14. Germano-silicate used as a building material for integrated photonics circuits substantially reduces optical losses, approaching levels comparable to those in optical fibres.