Charge–Discharge Digital/Analog Microring Modulator With No Intrinsic Speed Limitation

Author

Kodanev, Anna ; Orenstein, Meir

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Technion - Israel Inst. of Technol., Haifa, Israel

Volume

26

Issue

15

fYear

2014

fDate

Aug.1, 1 2014

Firstpage

1522

Lastpage

1525

Abstract

Coupling modulation in microring resonators substantiates a compact and high bandwidth silicon photonics modulation scheme. In this letter, we present large-signal analysis elucidating that the main drawback of this scheme is the cavity energy decay during analog and digital modulation. Then, we propose a solution, charge-discharge configuration, having two optical inputs to compensate for the power drainage from the ring. This new modulator exhibits RF-bandwidth and extinction ratio not limited by Q-factor with virtually unlimited modulation bandwidth. We emphasize an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation format at 50 GHz and show it is feasible on a silicon photonics platform.

Keywords

OFDM modulation; Q-factor; digital-analogue conversion; discharges (electric); elemental semiconductors; integrated optics; micromechanical resonators; optical modulation; silicon; Q-factor; RF-bandwidth; Si; analog modulation; cavity energy decay; charge-discharge configuration; charge-discharge digital/analog microring modulator; digital modulation; extinction ratio; frequency 50 GHz; large-signal analysis; orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulation format; power drainage; silicon photonics platform; Cavity resonators; Couplings; Optical coupling; Optical modulation; Optical resonators; Optical waveguides; Amplitude modulation; electrooptic modulators; microring resonators; photonic integrated circuits;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2014.2326038

Filename

6819398