Strain engineering of the electroabsorption response in Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well heterostructures

Many fibre-optic telecommunications systems exploit the spectral `window´ at 1310 nm, which corresponds to zero dispersion in standard single-mode fibres (SMFs). In particular, several passive optical network (PON) architectures use 1310 nm for upstream signals,¹ and so compact, low-cost and low-power modulators operating at 1310 nm that can be integrated into Si electronic-photonic integrated circuits would be extremely desireable for future fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) applications.