Open AccessSlope efficiency and spurious-free dynamic range of silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator upon carrier depletion and injection effects
Author(s) -
Xianshu Luo,
Xiaoguang Tu,
Jun Song,
Ding Liu,
FengLing Qing,
Tsung-Yang Liow,
Mingbin Yu,
GuoQiang Lo
Publication year - 2013
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.21.016570
Subject(s) - spurious free dynamic range , electro optic modulator , materials science , optics , dynamic range , depletion region , refractive index , silicon , optical modulator , physics , optoelectronics , phase modulation , semiconductor , phase noise
We investigate the performances of a silicon PN-junction Mach-Zehnder modulator for analog application. The slope efficiency and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of such a modulator upon carrier depletion and carrier injection effects are characterized and compared. Input RF frequency-dependence measurements show that the depletion-type modulator is usually with ~20 dB ∙ Hz(2/3) higher SFDR comparing to the injection-type modulator, yet with an order-of-magnitude lower slope efficiency. For the depletion-type and injection-type modulators, the measured maximum SFDRs are respectively ~95 dB ∙ Hz(2/3) and 75 dB∙Hz(2/3), with maximum slope efficiency of 0.3 V(-1) and 8 V(-1<). We numerically model the SFDR by using the experimentally extracted effective refractive index change, which shows good agreement with the measurements.