Design and performance of a velocity-matched broadband optical modulator with superconducting electrodes

The performance of a LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator employing superconducting electrodes as a transmission line for a traveling-wave signal has been studied theoretically as well as experimentally. In the case of velocity matching between signal and optical waves using a shielding plane on top of a coplanar waveguide, numerical calculations of the attenuation constants of both superconducting and normal-conducting transmission lines indicate that the performance of the optical modulator can be far superior to that using normal-metals with respect to the figure of merit of bandwidth/driving-voltage. Microwave operation of a velocity-matched traveling-wave-type optical modulator with superconductor electrodes (NbN) has been successfully demonstrated. In the frequency range between dc and 26.5 [GHz] it is shown that the obtained modulation depth is in good agreement with the theoretically expected one.