Wideband, Low Driving Voltage Traveling-Wave Mach–Zehnder Modulator for RF Photonics

Author

Jarrahi, Mona ; Lee, Thomas H. ; Miller, David A B

Author_Institution

Stanford Univ., Stanford

Volume

20

Issue

7

fYear

2008

fDate

4/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

517

Lastpage

519

Abstract

We report the design, fabrication, and testing of a traveling-wave Mach-Zehnder modulator on a GaAs substrate. Operating at 870-nm wavelength, we obtained an extremely low driving voltage of 0.45 V and a high measurement-instrument-limited small-signal modulation bandwidth of 18 GHz, projected to an estimated bandwidth of 50 GHz. We have also monolithically integrated photodetectors with an impulse response of 8-ps full-width at half-maximum, and a saturation power of 330 mW, giving a flexible high-performance platform for RF photonics.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; electro-optical modulation; microwave photonics; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical testing; photodetectors; RF photonics; bandwidth 18 GHz; integrated photodetectors; modulation bandwidth; power 330 mW; saturation power; traveling-wave Mach-Zehnder modulator; voltage 0.45 V; wavelength 870 nm; Bandwidth; Fabrication; Gallium arsenide; Low voltage; Optical modulation; Photonics; Radio frequency; Testing; Wavelength measurement; Wideband; Optical device fabrication; optical modulation; phase modulation; photodetectors; quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2008.918889

Filename

4468803