dBm average optical output power operation of small-chirp 40-gbps electroabsorption Modulator with tensile-strained asymmetric quantum-well absorption Layer

A small-chirp 40-Gbps electroabsorption modulator (EAM) with high optical output power capability has been developed for the first time. An optimized tensile-strained asymmetric quantum-well structure is employed as the absorption layer of the EAM so that small chirp and reduction of the lifetime of the photogenerated holes for high optical output power tolerance is obtained. Deteriorations of frequency response and chirp due to carrier pileup under high optical output power conditions were prevented by enhancing carrier sweepout, which was experimentally confirmed as a hole lifetime as short as 35 ps under high optical output power conditions. As a result, good frequency response (bandwidth > 30 GHz) and small chirp (α<1) were obtained under the condition of the zero bias voltage and +4.5 dBm continuous-wave (CW) optical output power (P_out,CW). Clear eye opening and high dynamic extinction ratio under 40-Gbps non-return-to-zero modulation persisted to a high average output power (P_out,ave) condition of P_out,ave=+1.0 dBm.