Heterogeneous photonic integration of single-crystalline nanomembranes - Nature

Nature volume 657, pages 638–645 (2026) Cite this article

Despite the growing maturity of silicon (Si) and silicon nitride (SiN) for integrated photonics, a single material platform is unable to meet the diversifying requirements posed for photonic integrated circuits1,2. Essential optical functionalities can be attained by the heterogeneous integration of functional materials into established photonic platforms3,4. However, stringent lattice-matching constraints severely hinder the quality of heteroepitaxial material grown on dissimilar optical substrates5. Here we obviate this limitation by exploiting free-standing single-crystalline nanomembranes enabled by advanced epitaxy and layer lift-off techniques6,7,8,9. We present a versatile framework making use of photonic van der Waals (vdW) integration10 to infuse desired functionalities into Si and SiN photonics. By transferring single-crystalline thin-film barium titanate (BTO) to Si chips, we experimentally demonstrate ultraefficient electro-optical modulation, with a large Pockels coefficient r42 over 1,290 pm V−1 and a 3-dB electro-optical bandwidth of more than 23 GHz, enabled by well-defined BTO crystallographic orientation and quality. We also report ultracompact non-reciprocal magneto-optical isolators by vdW integration of cobalt ferrite (CFO) nanomembranes into Si microrings, with a Faraday rotation coefficient θF of 33,800° cm−1. To exemplify the capability of coalescing diverse functional materials into arbitrary photonic templates, we laterally stitch gallium arsenide (GaAs)11,12 and gallium nitride (GaN) single crystals13,14 on top of SiN photonics to realize expansive photodetection from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths15. Multifunctional ring resonators for simultaneous electro-optical and magneto-optical modulations are also demonstrated by constructing vertical CFO/BTO heterostructures16,17, leading to new opportunities for advanced hetero-integrated optoelectronic applications and beyond.

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Source data are provided with this paper. 3D schematic illustrations in Fig. 1 were created by Autodesk 3ds Max. Experimental data were plotted using MATLAB (MathWorks Inc.). Further data that support the findings of this study included in the main text and Supplementary Information are available from the corresponding authors on request.

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The experiments in this work were supported by the cleanrooms of the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (IMSE) at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) and partially by the Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab (HMNTL) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Material characterizations were supported by facilities in the IMSE at WUSTL, HMNTL at UIUC and Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) programme EPMD (2428676) and McKelvey Collaboration Initiation Grant (WashU CIG) to S.-H.B. and L.Y. S.-H.B. acknowledges funding support from the NSF (2240995) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFOSR) (FA9550-25-1-0321). Hyunseok Kim and M.L.L. acknowledge funding support from the NSF (2231625) and from Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (IMRSEC) under the NSF (2309037). C.-W.Q. acknowledges funding support by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Singapore (A-8003643-00-00). J.-H. L. acknowledges funding supports from National Research Foundation of Korea (RS-2025-23323223, RS-2025-23323202).

Present address: Department of Semiconductor Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

These authors contributed equally: Yuan Meng, Wenbo Mao, Zhihao Xu, Di Jia

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

Yuan Meng, Sangmoon Han, Tae Hyung Kim, Yunseok Choi, Seung-Il Kim, Kyubeen Kim, Minho Jin, Chen Jiang & Sang-Hoon Bae

Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

Wenbo Mao, Di Jia, Weijie Xu, Qian Zhang, Yiheng Zhang & Lan Yang

Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

Zhihao Xu, Xiaoqing He, Justin S. Kim, Sejin Lee, Sanggeun Bae, Lan Yang & Sang-Hoon Bae

Institute of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

Mengxin Lin, Jianqi Hu & Tobias J. Kippenberg

Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering (IEM), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

Mengxin Lin, Jianqi Hu & Tobias J. Kippenberg

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

Jisung Seo, Minjoo Larry Lee & Hyunseok Kim

Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

Jisung Seo, Bora Kim, Soo Ho Choi, Minjoo Larry Lee & Hyunseok Kim

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

Bora Kim, Soo Ho Choi, Minjoo Larry Lee & Hyunseok Kim

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Xinyuan Zhang, Eugene Park, Frances M. Ross & Jeehwan Kim

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Seokje Lee, Jekyung Kim & Jeehwan Kim

Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Seokje Lee, Jekyung Kim & Jeehwan Kim

Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

Mingfeng Chen, Sheng Ran, Xi Wang & Sang-Hoon Bae

Department of Energy Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Sang Hyun Nam, Tae Hyung Kim & Young-Hoon Kim

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

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Y.M., S.-H.B., W.M. and L.Y. conceived the idea. Y.M. and W.M. designed the experiments. Y.M. performed PLD growth and layer lift-off for BTO, CFO and YIG films, with assistance from S.H., J.-Y.M., X.Z. and Y.C. B.K. performed the MBE growth of GaAs films, supervised by M.L.L. X.Z. performed the remote epitaxy and characterizations of YIG films, supervised by Jeehwan Kim. Seokje Lee and Jekyung Kim performed the MBE and exfoliation of GaN films, supervised by Jeehwan Kim. Y.M. fabricated the Si and SiN photonic chips, with assistance from W.M., Z.X., W.X., Q.Z., S.H.C. and Hyunseok Kim. Y.M. performed the vdW integration and device fabrication, with assistance from Z.X. D.J., W.M. and Y.M. designed the EO modulators and MO isolators. Y.M., W.M. and D.J. performed the low-speed EO measurements. M.L. measured the microwave and high-speed EO modulations, supervised by T.J.K. Y.M. and W.M. measured the MO devices and photodetectors, assisted by D.J. and Z.X. J.S. performed XRD, RSM and ellipsometry measurements, supported by Y.M., S.R. and Hyunseok Kim. Y.M. performed SEM and EBSD characterizations. E.P. and X.H. performed the TEM, STEM and EDS characterizations, supported by F.M.R. S.H.N. performed ferromagnetic measurements, supported by T.H.K. and Y.-H.K. M.C. and J.S.K. performed AFM characterizations, supported by X.W. Y.M. performed EO and MO theoretical modelling, with input from W.M., D.J., J.H. and C.-W.Q. Sejin Lee, S.B., S.-I.K., K.K., M.J., C.J., Y.Z., J.-H.L. and Hobeom Kim contributed to epitaxial substrate supply and analysis. Y.M. led the experiments and wrote the manuscript, with detailed revisions from S.-H.B., W.M., D.J., Z.X. and L.Y. All authors discussed the results in the paper. S.-H.B. and L.Y. supervised the project.

Correspondence to Lan Yang or Sang-Hoon Bae.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Nature thanks Hanke Feng, Cheng Wang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Meng, Y., Mao, W., Xu, Z. et al. Heterogeneous photonic integration of single-crystalline nanomembranes. Nature 657, 638–645 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11000-w

Version of record 16 September 2026

DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11000-w

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