Group-velocity-dispersion engineering of tantala integrated photonics

Designing integrated photonics, especially to leverage Kerr-nonlinear optics, requires accurate and precise knowledge of refractive index across the visible infrared spectral ranges. Tantala (Ta_2O_5) is an emerging material platform for photonics nanophotonics that offers broadband ultralow loss, moderately high nonlinearity, advantages scalable heterogeneous integration. We present refractive-index measurements on a thin film tantala, we explore efficacy this data group-velocity dispersion (GVD) engineering with waveguide ring-resonator devices. In particular, observed extent supercontinuum generation in fabricated waveguides, wavelength dependence free range (FSR) optical resonators provide sensitive test our integrated-photonics design process. Our work opens up new possibilities including octave-spanning soliton microcombs.