Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz
High‐speed modulators with low driving voltage, low loss, and compact size are essential for future optical communication systems. Thin‐film lithium niobate modulators have met each of these criteria separately, but simultaneous achievement of all of them has been challenging on this platform. Low d...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley-VCH
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Advanced Photonics Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/adpr.202200216 |
| _version_ | 1797959812415225856 |
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| author | Farzaneh Arab Juneghani Milad Gholipour Vazimali Jie Zhao Xi Chen Son Thai Le Haoshuo Chen Ehsan Ordouie Nicolas K Fontaine Sasan Fathpour |
| author_facet | Farzaneh Arab Juneghani Milad Gholipour Vazimali Jie Zhao Xi Chen Son Thai Le Haoshuo Chen Ehsan Ordouie Nicolas K Fontaine Sasan Fathpour |
| author_sort | Farzaneh Arab Juneghani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | High‐speed modulators with low driving voltage, low loss, and compact size are essential for future optical communication systems. Thin‐film lithium niobate modulators have met each of these criteria separately, but simultaneous achievement of all of them has been challenging on this platform. Low driving voltage electro‐optic modulators necessitate either a narrow gap between the electrodes or an elongated Mach–Zehnder arms, both of which adversely affect the microwave loss, hence the bandwidth. Herein, this trade‐off is alleviated by placing the optical waveguides nonsymmetrically with respect to the electrodes and by including a dielectric buffer layer beneath the electrodes. Exploiting this novel design yields a modulator with a measured roll‐off of only 2 dB from low frequencies up to 100 GHz, and with an extrapolated 3 dB bandwidth of 170 GHz. The measured voltage–length product of this subterahertz device is 3.3 V cm. Another device, optimized for a lower voltage–length product of 2.2 V cm, exhibits a 3 dB electro‐optic bandwidth of 84 GHz. The devices are also tested for eight‐level pulse‐amplitude modulation (PAM‐8) and demonstrate data rates of up to 240 Gb s−1 at 80 Gbaud, validating that the modulators are a propitious candidate for next‐generation optical communication systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:38:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-69053169cee6494db22b426c6408eac8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2699-9293 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:38:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley-VCH |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Photonics Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-69053169cee6494db22b426c6408eac82023-01-06T15:30:44ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Photonics Research2699-92932023-01-0141n/an/a10.1002/adpr.202200216Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHzFarzaneh Arab Juneghani0Milad Gholipour Vazimali1Jie Zhao2Xi Chen3Son Thai Le4Haoshuo Chen5Ehsan Ordouie6Nicolas K Fontaine7Sasan Fathpour8CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics University of Central Florida Orlando FL 32816 USACREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics University of Central Florida Orlando FL 32816 USANokia Bell Labs 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USANokia Bell Labs 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USANokia Bell Labs 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USANokia Bell Labs 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USACREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics University of Central Florida Orlando FL 32816 USANokia Bell Labs 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USACREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics University of Central Florida Orlando FL 32816 USAHigh‐speed modulators with low driving voltage, low loss, and compact size are essential for future optical communication systems. Thin‐film lithium niobate modulators have met each of these criteria separately, but simultaneous achievement of all of them has been challenging on this platform. Low driving voltage electro‐optic modulators necessitate either a narrow gap between the electrodes or an elongated Mach–Zehnder arms, both of which adversely affect the microwave loss, hence the bandwidth. Herein, this trade‐off is alleviated by placing the optical waveguides nonsymmetrically with respect to the electrodes and by including a dielectric buffer layer beneath the electrodes. Exploiting this novel design yields a modulator with a measured roll‐off of only 2 dB from low frequencies up to 100 GHz, and with an extrapolated 3 dB bandwidth of 170 GHz. The measured voltage–length product of this subterahertz device is 3.3 V cm. Another device, optimized for a lower voltage–length product of 2.2 V cm, exhibits a 3 dB electro‐optic bandwidth of 84 GHz. The devices are also tested for eight‐level pulse‐amplitude modulation (PAM‐8) and demonstrate data rates of up to 240 Gb s−1 at 80 Gbaud, validating that the modulators are a propitious candidate for next‐generation optical communication systems.https://doi.org/10.1002/adpr.202200216low voltagethin-film lithium niobate modulatorsultrahigh-speed |
| spellingShingle | Farzaneh Arab Juneghani Milad Gholipour Vazimali Jie Zhao Xi Chen Son Thai Le Haoshuo Chen Ehsan Ordouie Nicolas K Fontaine Sasan Fathpour Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz Advanced Photonics Research low voltage thin-film lithium niobate modulators ultrahigh-speed |
| title | Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz |
| title_full | Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz |
| title_fullStr | Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz |
| title_short | Thin‐Film Lithium Niobate Optical Modulators with an Extrapolated Bandwidth of 170 GHz |
| title_sort | thin film lithium niobate optical modulators with an extrapolated bandwidth of 170 ghz |
| topic | low voltage thin-film lithium niobate modulators ultrahigh-speed |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/adpr.202200216 |
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