Compact, 15 Gb/s electro-optic modulator through carrier accumulation in a hybrid Si/SiO(2)/Si microdisk

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• High-speed electro-optic modulators are crucial for optical interconnects.
• Existing modulators often require power-hungry compensation methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and demonstrate a novel electro-optic modulator.
• To utilize carrier accumulation on a multilayer integrated photonic platform.
• To achieve high-speed operation and wavelength self-trimming.

Main Methods:

• Design of a microdisk electro-optic modulator with an embedded capacitor.
• Fabrication on a multilayer Si/SiO(2)/Si integrated photonic platform.
• Characterization of operational bandwidth and data transmission rates.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated operation bandwidth exceeding 10 GHz.
• Achieved data transmission of 15 Gb/s using on-off keying.
• Exhibited wavelength self-trimming capability up to 1 nm via dc bias voltage.

Conclusions:

• The proposed modulator offers high-speed performance and efficient wavelength tuning.
• Self-trimming feature eliminates the need for power-intensive thermal compensation.
• This silicon photonic device is suitable for advanced optical interconnect systems.