Compact thin film lithium niobate folded intensity modulator using a waveguide crossing
Date
2022-03-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Optics Express
Abstract
A small footprint, low voltage and wide bandwidth electro-optic modulator is critical for applications ranging from optical communications to analog photonic links, and the integration of thin-film lithium niobate with photonic integrated circuit (PIC) compatible materials remains paramount. Here, a hybrid silicon nitride and lithium niobate folded electro-optic Mach Zehnder modulator (MZM) which incorporates a waveguide crossing and 3 dB multimode interference (MMI) couplers for splitting and combining light is reported. This modulator has an effective interaction region length of 10 mm and shows a DC half wave voltage of roughly 4.0 V, or a modulation efficiency (Vπ ·L) of roughly 4 V·cm. Furthermore, the device demonstrates a power extinction ratio of roughly 23 dB and shows .08 dB/GHz optical sideband power roll-off with index matching fluid up to 110 GHz, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 37.5 GHz.
Description
Copyright 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement. This article was originally published in Optics Express. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.453050.
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Citation
Sean Nelan, Andrew Mercante, Cooper Hurley, Shouyuan Shi, Peng Yao, Benjamin Shopp, and Dennis W. Prather, "Compact thin film lithium niobate folded intensity modulator using a waveguide crossing," Opt. Express 30, 9193-9207 (2022)