Mid-Infrared Thermo-Optic Modulators in SoI

Author

Nedeljkovic, Milos ; Stankovic, Stevan ; Mitchell, Colin J. ; Khokhar, Ali Z. ; Reynolds, Scott A. ; Thomson, David J. ; Gardes, Frederic Y. ; Littlejohns, Callum G. ; Reed, Graham T. ; Mashanovich, Goran Z.

Author_Institution

Optoelectron. Res. Centre, Univ. of Southampton, Southampton, UK

Volume

26

Issue

13

fYear

2014

fDate

1-Jul-14

Firstpage

1352

Lastpage

1355

Abstract

We report experimental results for thermo-optic modulators in silicon-on-insulator (SoI) material operating at the wavelength of 3.8 μ m. These devices are based on asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with aluminum heaters placed above one MZI arm. The SoI rib waveguides with 400-nm Si device layer thickness are used. Devices with conventional straight MZI arm and spiral MZI arm geometries are investigated. Straight-arm MZIs exhibited higher modulation depths, of up to 30.5 dB, whereas spiral-arm MZIs required smaller switching powers, as low as 47 mW. Measured -3 dB bandwidths were up to 23.8 kHz and did not vary significantly with device configuration.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; geometrical optics; infrared spectra; nanophotonics; optical variables measurement; optical waveguides; rib waveguides; silicon-on-insulator; thermo-optical devices; thermo-optical effects; SOI rib waveguides; aluminum heaters; asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers; bandwidth measurement; gain 30.5 dB; loss -3 dB; midinfrared thermo-optic modulators; power 47 mW; silicon-on-insulator; size 400 nm; spiral MZI arm geometries; wavelength 3.8 mum; Heating; Modulation; Optical device fabrication; Optical switches; Optical waveguides; Silicon; Spirals; Thermo-optic modulator; mid-infrared; optoelectronic devices; photonics; silicon photonics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2014.2323702

Filename

6815668