Low-power thermo-optic silicon modulator for large-scale photonic integrated systems

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Integrated Optics
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• Silicon photonics enables large-scale integrated systems for diverse applications.
• Existing optical modulators face limitations in size, efficiency, and optical loss for large-scale integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel thermo-optic silicon modulator suitable for large-scale photonic integrated systems.
• To address the limitations of classical modulators in terms of size, efficiency, and optical loss.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a commercial foundry silicon photonics process for device fabrication.
• Employed geometrical design optimization for the thermo-optic modulator.
• Achieved phase modulation without specialized post-processing techniques like air-gap trenches.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a thermo-optic silicon modulator with a 0.0023-mm² footprint.
• Achieved 180° phase modulation with 2.56 mW power consumption over a 100-nm optical bandwidth.
• Attained a low optical loss of 1.23 dB without post-processing.

Conclusions:

• Geometrical design optimization is key for compact thermo-optic devices in large-scale photonic systems.
• The developed modulator offers a potential tenfold reduction in power consumption for programmable photonic integrated systems.
• The design is scalable and maintains optical modulation bandwidth without sacrificing performance.