Slow light enhanced carrier depletion modulators with 1V drive voltage

A. Brimont; D. J. Thomson; J. Herrera; F. Y. Gardes; J. M. Fedeli; G. T. Reed; J. Martí; P. Sanchis

doi:10.1117/12.922710

10 May 2012 Slow light enhanced carrier depletion modulators with 1V drive voltage

A. Brimont, D. J. Thomson, J. Herrera, F. Y. Gardes, J. M. Fedeli, G. T. Reed, J. Martí, P. Sanchis

Proceedings Volume 8431, Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits III; 84310K (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922710
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2012, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Slow light optical modulators are attracting ever more attention in the field of silicon photonics owing to their capacity to shrink the footprint of conventional rib waveguide based carrier depletion modulators while maintaining similar drive voltages. Nonetheless, the integration of future photonics components with advanced complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics will require drive voltages as low as 1V. Here, we demonstrate that the use of slow light provides an attractive solution to reduce the driving power of carrier depletion-based Mach-Zehnder modulators so that they fulfill the consumption requirements of future CMOS electro-photonics transceivers. Preliminary characterization results show that our 1mm-long slow light device features a data transmission rate of 5 Gbit/s with ~5.7 dB extinction ratio under a 1V drive voltage with 12dB insertion loss. Further measurements show that higher transmission speeds are achievable while sustaining the drive voltage close to current CMOS requirements.

Citation Download Citation

A. Brimont, D. J. Thomson, J. Herrera, F. Y. Gardes, J. M. Fedeli, G. T. Reed, J. Martí, and P. Sanchis "Slow light enhanced carrier depletion modulators with 1V drive voltage", Proc. SPIE 8431, Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits III, 84310K (10 May 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922710

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