Low Power Mach–Zehnder Modulator in Silicon-Organic Hybrid Technology

Author

Palmer, R. ; Alloatti, L. ; Korn, D. ; Schindler, Philipp C. ; Baier, M. ; Bolten, Jens ; Wahlbrink, Thorsten ; Waldow, M. ; Dinu, R. ; Freude, W. ; Koos, C. ; Leuthold, Juerg

Author_Institution

Inst. of Photonics & Quantum Electron., Karlsruhe Inst. of Technol., Karlsruhe, Germany

Volume

25

Issue

13

fYear

2013

fDate

1-Jul-13

Firstpage

1226

Lastpage

1229

Abstract

We report on a silicon-organic hybrid modulator based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) operating at 10 Gbit/s with an energy consumption of 320 fJ/bit. The device consists of a striploaded slot waveguide covered with an electro-optic polymer cladding. The MZI modulator is poled to be driven in push-pull operation by a single coplanar RF line. Our nonlinear coefficient r₃₃ = 15 pm/V in combination with an 80 nm narrow slot enables RF peak-to-peak drive voltages as low as 800 mV_pp to suffice for an extinction ration of 4.4 dB for a 1.5 mm long modulator.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; claddings; coplanar transmission lines; electro-optical modulation; elemental semiconductors; extinction coefficients; integrated optics; optical communication equipment; optical polymers; optical waveguides; organic compounds; silicon; MZI modulator; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; RF peak-to-peak drive voltages; Si; bit rate 10 Gbit/s; electrooptic polymer cladding; energy consumption; extinction ratio; low power Mach-Zehnder modulator; narrow slot; nonlinear coefficient; push-pull operation; silicon-organic hybrid technology; single coplanar RF line; striploaded slot waveguide; wavelength 80 nm; Electrooptic modulators; photonic switching systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2013.2260858

Filename

6510430