We build photonic circuits for quantum optics with the material system lithium niobate. The material system enables us to realize several devices such as quantum light sources and modulators. For several applications we need to cool the material system down to cryogenic temperatures (below 10K). The challenge with photonic circuits is to maintain a high device performance at cryogenic temperatures. We managed to maintain a good performance for our quantum light sources and modulators. However, we are interested to improve the device performance further at cryogenic temperatures. One significant effect in lithium niobate is pyroelectricity during the cooling process.
In our recent publication, we investigated the pyroelectric charge generation in lithium niobate in the thermal transition. This enables us to find strategies to minimize the pyroelectric influence.
The publication is available at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2633-4356/ad207d
