Open AccessEnhanced optical bistability from self-heating due to free carrier absorption in substrate removed silicon ring modulators
Author(s) -
Xuezhe Zheng,
Ying Luo,
Guoliang Li,
Ivan Shubin,
Hiren Thacker,
Jin Yao,
Kannan Raj,
J. E. Cunningham,
Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.011478
Subject(s) - materials science , bistability , silicon , optical bistability , optics , optoelectronics , absorption (acoustics) , substrate (aquarium) , modulation (music) , optical switch , resonance (particle physics) , free carrier absorption , doping , nonlinear optics , physics , atomic physics , laser , oceanography , acoustics , composite material , geology
We show enhanced optical bistability induced by free carrier absorption from junction doping in substrate-removed silicon ring modulators. Such linear thermal effects dominate the loss in high-speed depletion silicon ring modulators. Optical bistability was observed with about 100 μW of input optical power. We further show that such thermal interactions causes data-dependent ring resonance shifts, and consequently severely degrade the data modulation quality at low speeds. The frequency response of this effect was measured to be about 100~200 kHz.