A hybrid electroabsorption modulator device for generation of high spectral-efficiency optical modulation formats

We report a novel hybrid integrated optic device consisting of AlGaInAs/InP electroabsorption modulators and a four-arm silica-on-silicon planar lightwave circuit optical interferometer. The device is designed for generation of high spectral efficiency optical modulation formats. We demonstrate generation of 21.4 Gb/s quadrature phase shift keyed optical signals with electrical data drives of 2V(pp) amplitudes, achieving a bit error rate of 10(-9) with the required optical signal to noise ratio of ~18 dB in a 0.1 nm resolution bandwidth.