Open AccessHigh-speed silicon Michelson interferometer modulator and streamlined IMDD PAM-4 transmission of Mach-Zehnder modulators for the 2 μm wavelength band
Author(s) -
Wei Cao,
Shenghao Liu,
Callum G. Littlejohns,
David J. Thomson,
Milos Nedeljkovic,
Weiwei Zhang,
Ke Li,
Mehdi Banakar,
Ying Tran,
Xingzhao Yan,
Han Du,
Zhengqi Ren,
Frederic Y. Gardes,
Graham T. Reed,
Goran Z. Mashanovich
Publication year - 2021
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.418285
Subject(s) - optics , electro optic modulator , michelson interferometer , interferometry , modulation (music) , phase modulation , mach–zehnder interferometer , extinction ratio , physics , phase shift module , optical modulator , wavelength , materials science , insertion loss , phase noise , acoustics
We demonstrate high-speed silicon modulators optimized for operating at the wavelength of 2 μm. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) carrier-depletion modulator with 2 mm phase shifter has a single-arm modulation efficiency (V π ·L π ) of 2.89 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias. Using a push-pull configuration it operates at a data rate of 25 Gbit/s OOK with an extinction ratio of 6.25 dB. We also proposed a mathematically-analysed streamlined IMDD PAM-4 scheme and successfully demonstrated a 25 Gbit/s datarate PAM-4 with the same 2 mm modulator. A Michelson interferometer carrier-depletion modulator with 0.5 mm phase shift length has also been shown with modulation efficiency (V π ·L π ) of 1.36 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias and data rate of 20 Gbit/s OOK. The Michelson interferometer modulator performs similarly to a Mach-Zehnder modulator with twice the phase shifter length.