Silicon thermooptical micromodulator with 700-kHz -3-dB bandwidth

Author

Cocorullo, G. ; Iodice, M. ; Rendina, I. ; Sarro, P.M.

Author_Institution

Consiglio Naz. delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca per lElettromag., Napoli, Italy

Volume

7

Issue

4

fYear

1995

fDate

4/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

363

Lastpage

365

Abstract

A silicon Fabry-Perot waveguide modulator, operating at the fiber optic communication wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 μm, has been entirely fabricated using microelectronic techniques. The planar optical cavity has been defined by plasma etching and has a length of 100 μm. The device, based on the thermooptic effect, is electrically driven and exhibits a maximum modulation depths of 60%. The measured -3 dB bandwidth is 700 kHz, which is by far the best result ever reported, to our knowledge, for thermooptic effect based modulators.

Keywords

Fabry-Perot resonators; electro-optical modulation; optical communication equipment; optical fabrication; optical planar waveguides; silicon; sputter etching; thermo-optical effects; 1.3 mum; 1.55 mum; 100 micron; 700 kHz; Si; electrically driven; fiber optic communication wavelengths; microelectronic techniques; modulation depths; planar optical cavity; plasma etching; silicon Fabry-Perot waveguide modulator; silicon thermooptical micromodulator; thermooptic effect; Bandwidth; Fabry-Perot; Microelectronics; Optical fiber communication; Optical modulation; Optical waveguides; Plasma applications; Plasma measurements; Silicon; Thermooptic effects;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.376803

Filename

376803