Ultrafast and long-term stability Integrated Pockels laser with thin-film PZT

Integrated tunable lasers are central to coherent communications, wavelength-routed optical interconnects, spectroscopy and frequency-modulated continuous-wave LiDAR, yet chip-scale sources rarely combine broad wavelength coverage, nanosecond switching, high spectral purity and stable high-power operation. Here we demonstrate a frequency-agile hybrid external-cavity laser enabled by the Pockels effect in thin-film lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The strong linear electro-optic response of PZT provides direct, non-thermal tuning of compact microring resonators with a wavelength-tuning efficiency of 17 pm/V. In contrast to conventional anisotropic Pockels materials, the near-isotropic in-plane electro-optic behaviour of thin-film PZT relaxes crystal-axis layout constraints, allowing efficient Vernier wavelength selection in compact ring cavities. The PZT resonators also show no measurable photorefractive resonance distortion and no resolvable DC-bias drift during operation, preserving stable wavelength-selective feedback. The demonstrated laser achieves an 82 nm tuning range, a 5 mW fiber-coupled output power, a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) exceeding 56.7 dB, and a wavelength-switching time of 5.5 ns. These results establish thin-film PZT photonics as a powerful electro-optic platform for compact, high-power, and frequency-agile integrated laser sources.