Bias-drift-free Mach–Zehnder modulators based on a heterogeneous silicon and lithium niobate platform

Shihao Sun, Mingbo He, Mengyue Xu, Shengqian Gao, Ziyan Chen, Xian Zhang, Ziliang Ruan, Xiong Wu, Lidan Zhou, Lin Liu, Chao Lu, Changjian Guo, Liu Liu, Siyuan Yu, Xinlun Cai

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Optical modulators have been and will continue to be essential devices for energy- and cost-efficient optical communication networks. Heterogeneous silicon and lithium niobate modulators have demonstrated promising performances of low optical loss, low drive voltage, and large modulation bandwidth. However, DC bias drift is a major drawback of optical modulators using lithium niobate as the active electro-optic material. Here, we demonstrate high-speed and bias-drift-free Mach–Zehnder modulators based on the heterogeneous silicon and lithium niobate platform. The devices combine stable thermo-optic DC biases in silicon and ultra-fast electro-optic modulation in lithium niobate, and exhibit a low insertion loss of 1.8 dB, a low half-wave voltage of 3 V, an electro-optic modulation bandwidth of at least 70 GHz, and modulation data rates up to 128 Gb/s.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1958-1963
Number of pages6
JournalPhotonics Research
Volume8
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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