Author: Jian Shen, Yong Zhang, Chenglong Feng, Zihan Xu, Lei Zhang and Yikai Su
Abstract: Integrated electro-optic modulators are key components in photonic integrated circuits. Silicon photonic technology is considered to be promising for large-scale and low-cost integration. However, silicon does not exhibit any Pockels effect, and the electro-optic modulator based on free-carrier dispersion suffers from challenges such as high-power consumption, limited bandwidth, and large optical propagation loss. Here, a new hybrid lithium tantalite-silicon platform is proposed for electro-optic modulators based on the Pockels effect. Benefitting from the strong Pockels coefficients of thin film lithium tantalite, a hybrid microring-based modulator is demonstrated. The quality factor and extinction ratio of the hybrid microring are 1.7´104 and 10 dB, respectively. The linear bidirectional wavelength tuning efficiency is measured as 12.8 pm/V. The measured 3-dB bandwidth is > 20 GHz. High-quality eye diagrams of 20 Gbps non-return-to-zero signal and 20 Gbps four-level pulse amplitude modulation signals are generated experimentally. The proposed platform extends the toolbox of silicon photonics technology, which paves the way for high-speed modulators and phase shifters in optical communication and optical phased array.
Publishing source: Optics Letters
