Compact electro-optic modulator on silicon-on-insulator substrates using cavities with ultra-small modal volumes

We experimentally demonstrate a micron-size electro-optic modulator using a high-index-contrast silicon Fabry-Pérot resonator cavity. This compact device consists of a 1-D cavity formed within a single mode silicon channel waveguide and an embedded p-i-n junction on a silicon-oninsulator platform. The entire device is 6.0 microns in length. We demonstrate modulation depths as large as 5.87 dB at speeds of 250 Mbps limited only by fabrication imperfections, with optimized theoretical speeds of several Gbps.