Compact thin film lithium niobate folded intensity modulator using a waveguide crossing
Abstract
A small footprint, low voltage and wide bandwidth electro-optic modulator is critical for applications ranging from optical communications to analog photonic links, and the integration of thin-film lithium niobate with photonic integrated circuit (PIC) compatible materials remains paramount. Here, a hybrid silicon nitride and lithium niobate folded electro-optic Mach Zehnder modulator (MZM) which incorporates a waveguide crossing and 3 dB multimode interference (MMI) couplers for splitting and combining light is reported. This modulator has an effective interaction region length of 10 mm and shows a DC half wave voltage of roughly 4.0 V, or a modulation efficiency (Vπ ·L) of roughly 4 V·cm. Furthermore, the device demonstrates a power extinction ratio of roughly 23 dB and shows .08 dB/GHz optical sideband power roll-off with index matching fluid up to 110 GHz, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 37.5 GHz.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 04, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1364/oe.453050
Entities
People
- Andrew Mercante
- Benjamin Shopp
- Cooper Hurley
- Dennis W. Prather
- Peng Yao
- Sean Nelan
- Shouyuan Shi
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory
- University of Delaware