Silicon PAM-4 optical modulator driven by two binary electrical signals with different peak-to-peak voltages

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical communications
• Semiconductor devices

Background:

• High-speed optical communication systems require efficient modulation techniques.
• Silicon photonics offers a scalable platform for integrated optical devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel silicon optical modulator for next-generation high-speed optical links.
• To achieve a four-level output power using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer design.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a symmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure.
• Applied two uncorrelated binary electrical signals with varying voltages to phase shifters.
• Implemented signal permutation to generate four distinct phase differences.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated a silicon Pulse Amplitude Modulation-4 (PAM-4) optical modulator.
• Achieved operation at 32 Gbaud data rate.
• Device operates across a wide wavelength range (1525-1565 nm).

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated silicon PAM-4 modulator is a promising candidate for future high-speed optical interconnects.
• The Mach-Zehnder interferometer design provides an effective method for generating multi-level optical signals.
• Further development could enhance performance for advanced optical networking applications.