Mach-Zehnder Modulator arm-length-mismatch measurement technique

Author

Geary, Kevin ; Kim, Seong-Ku ; Seo, Byoung-Joon ; Fetterman, Harold R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

23

Issue

3

fYear

2005

fDate

3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1273

Lastpage

1277

Abstract

This paper describes a robust measurement technique for determining the effective length mismatch of the two arms of a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), based on its broad-band filter characteristics. The proposed method involves measuring the Vπ(λ), n(λ), and transfer function of a modulator at various externally applied bias points. This mismatch measurement technique is applied to a packaged polymer rib waveguide MZM, and it is shown that it has an arm-length mismatch of 1.9 μm. Poling-induced writing is then proposed as a fabrication technique that can consistently produce polymer MZMs with arm-length-mismatch values less than 2 μm.

Keywords

optical fabrication; optical filters; optical modulation; optical polymers; optical transfer function; optical variables measurement; optical waveguides; rib waveguides; 1.9 mum; Mach-Zehnder modulator arm-length-mismatch measurement technique; broad-band filter; poling-induced writing; polymer rib waveguide; transfer function; Arm; Bandwidth; Electrooptic devices; Measurement techniques; Optical distortion; Optical filters; Packaging; Polymers; Transfer functions; Writing; APC–CLD; Mach– Zehnder modulator (MZM); arm-length mismatch; poling-induced (PI); polymer; time stretching;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2004.840010

Filename

1417025