Miniature, Linearized silicon photonics modulators for phased array systems

This paper describes miniature silicon photonics modulators, fabricated in a CMOS compatible technology, suitable for integration with ultra wideband phased array antennas. The Linearized Ring-Assisted Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (L-RAMZI) modulators, formed by integrating two microring phase modulators with an MZI structure, provide linearization of the MZI based modulator transfer characteristic. Record SFDR values for silicon photonics modulators, of 106dB/Hz^2/3 at 1 GHz and 99dB/Hz^2/3 at 10GHz are achieved with initial L-RAMZI devices.