High-speed electro-optical silicon modulators based on photonic crystal waveguides

Lanlan Gu; Wei Jiang; Xiaonan Chen; Li Wang; Ray T. Chen

doi:10.1117/12.707802

9 February 2007 High-speed electro-optical silicon modulators based on photonic crystal waveguides

Lanlan Gu, Wei Jiang, Xiaonan Chen, Li Wang, Ray T. Chen

Proceedings Volume 6477, Silicon Photonics II; 64770Z (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.707802
Event: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices 2007, 2007, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

An ultra-compact silicon Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) modulator featuring p-i-n-diode-embedded photonic crystal waveguides has been fabricated. As carrier injection is the only practical option for optical modulation in silicon, a lower limit of current density (~10⁴A/cm²) exists for achieving gigahertz modulation in the widely employed p-i-n diode configuration. Electrical simulations have been performed to design and analyze the device. The device interaction length was reduced by one order of magnitude compared to the conventional waveguide based MZI modulators by taking advantage of the slow group velocity exhibited by photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs). A maximum modulation depth of 93% has been obtained under an injected current of 7.1 mA. High-speed optical modulation at 1 Gbit s^-1 in the 1.55 micron wavelength region was experimentally demonstrated. To our knowledge, this is the fastest speed ever achieved for a p-i-n diode based integrated silicon MZI modulator.

Citation Download Citation

Lanlan Gu, Wei Jiang, Xiaonan Chen, Li Wang, and Ray T. Chen "High-speed electro-optical silicon modulators based on photonic crystal waveguides", Proc. SPIE 6477, Silicon Photonics II, 64770Z (9 February 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.707802

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