Bandwidth Estimation for Ultra-High-Speed Lithium Niobate Modulators

The effects of velocity matching, impedance matching, conductor loss, and dielectric loss on the optical bandwidth of an ultra-high-speed lithium niobate modulator are reported. It is shown that both dielectric loss and impedance matching play a key role for velocity-matched high-speed modulators with low conductor loss. The effects of etch depth, buffer thickness, electrode width, and the gap between the electrodes on device performance are also illustrated.