Ultra-high-speed multiple-quantum-well electro-absorption optical modulators with integrated waveguides

Author

Ido, Tatemi ; Tanaka, Shigehisa ; Suzuki, Makoto ; Koizumi, Mari ; Sano, Hirohisa ; Inoue, Hiroaki

Author_Institution

Central Res. Lab., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Volume

14

Issue

9

fYear

1996

fDate

9/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2026

Lastpage

2034

Abstract

Integrating the input and output waveguides with a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) electro-absorption (EA) optical modulator is shown to achieve ultra-high-speed modulation while keeping the total device length long enough for easy fabrication and packaging. Testing with fabricated modulators showed that a shorter modulation region results in a larger modulation bandwidth. The additional loss due to the waveguide integration was less than 1 dB. An optimized modulator showed a large modulation bandwidth of 50 GHz, a low driving voltage of less than 3 V, and a low insertion loss of 8 dB. A prototype module of this modulator had a bandwidth of greater than 40 GHz. Optimizing the MQW structure makes the modulator insensitive to polarization. These results demonstrate that MQW-EA modulators with integrated waveguides are advantageous in terms of fabrication, packaging, and ultra-high-speed modulation

Keywords

electroabsorption; high-speed optical techniques; integrated optics; optical fabrication; optical losses; optical waveguides; optimisation; semiconductor device packaging; semiconductor quantum wells; 3 V; 40 GHz; 50 GHz; 8 dB; MQW structure optimisation; MQW-EA modulators; fabrication; input waveguides; integrated waveguides; larger modulation bandwidth; low driving voltage; low insertion loss; optimized modulator; output waveguides; packaging; shorter modulation region; total device length; ultra-high-speed modulation; ultra-high-speed multiple-quantum-well electro-absorption optical modulators; waveguide integration loss; Bandwidth; Integrated optics; Optical device fabrication; Optical devices; Optical losses; Optical modulation; Optical waveguides; Packaging; Quantum well devices; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.536970

Filename

536970