Small AC Driving Voltage for MZI-Based GaAs–GaAlAs Electrooptic Modulators/Switches With Coplanar Electrodes

Author

Cao, Shao Chun ; Noad, Julian ; Sun, Liping ; James, Robert ; Coulas, David ; Lovell, Glendon ; Higgins, Erle

Author_Institution

Commun. Res. Centre, Ottawa, ON

Volume

21

Issue

9

fYear

2009

fDate

5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

584

Lastpage

586

Abstract

We report a method to achieve a small ac driving voltage for high-speed multimode interference Mach-Zehnder interferometer GaAs-GaAlAs electrooptic modulators and switches with coplanar electrodes for polarization-insensitive operation. By biasing the devices in the reverse break-down region, the ac driving voltage can be as small as 3 V. Such a small ac driving voltage is important for high-speed optical modulators and switches. The physics behind this small ac driving voltage is also discussed.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Mach-Zehnder interferometers; aluminium compounds; electro-optical modulation; electro-optical switches; electrodes; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; semiconductor devices; AC driving voltage; GaAs-GaAlAs; MZI; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; coplanar electrodes; electrooptic modulators; electrooptic switches; polarization-insensitive operation; AC driving voltage; GaAs–GaAlAs; Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI); electrooptic effect; multimode interference (MMI) coupler; optical modulator/switch;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2009.2015192

Filename

4787091