Lithium Niobate PIC cuts display power
TDK researchers demonstrate a voltage-controlled photonic chip with 10 GHz bandwidth and potential power savings of more than 75% for laser-scanning displays.
Researchers at TDK Corporation have developed a thin-film lithium niobate photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designed to improve the speed and energy efficiency of laser beam scanning displays for applications such as smart glasses.
Reported in Advanced Photonics Nexus, the device uses electrical voltage to control the intensity of red, green and blue laser light before combining the three channels into a single output beam.
The approach addresses limitations associated with conventional systems, which regulate laser intensity by directly modulating the current supplied to laser diodes.
The chip incorporates three Mach–Zehnder interferometers, each controlling one primary colour, alongside lithium niobate waveguides that combine the channels.
By shifting colour control to the photonic circuit, the researchers aim to enable faster modulation while reducing the need to operate laser diodes at high currents.
In experiments, the device achieved a modulation bandwidth of 10 GHz and was integrated with a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) scanning mirror to demonstrate full-colour image generation.
The researchers report that the approach could reduce overall power consumption by more than 75% compared with conventional laser control methods.
The design could help address key challenges in wearable display systems, where high image resolution must be achieved within strict power and size constraints. It also removes the need for neutral-density filters used to reduce excess laser output in conventional configurations.
Further work will focus on reducing optical losses in the lithium niobate waveguides and during colour combining, with the aim of improving overall system efficiency.
The research, led by Yasuhiro Takagi and colleagues, was published as “Thin-film lithium niobate photonic integrated circuit for laser beam scanning imaging” in Advanced Photonics Nexus (2026).
