110 GHz, 110 mW hybrid silicon-lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulator

Valdez, Forrest; Mere, Viphretuo; Wang, Xiaoxi; Boynton, Nicholas; Friedmann, Thomas A.; Arterburn, Shawn; Dallo, Christina; Pomerene, Andrew T.; Starbuck, Andrew L.; Trotter, Douglas C.; Lentine, Anthony L.; Mookherjea, Shayan

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-23403-6

110 GHz, 110 mW hybrid silicon-lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulator

Journal Article · Thu Nov 03 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23403-6· OSTI ID:2471760

Valdez, Forrest ^[1]; Mere, Viphretuo ^[1]; Wang, Xiaoxi ^[1]; Boynton, Nicholas ^[2]; Friedmann, Thomas A. ^[2]; Arterburn, Shawn ^[2]; Dallo, Christina ^[2]; Pomerene, Andrew T. ^[2]; Starbuck, Andrew L. ^[2]; Trotter, Douglas C. ^[2]; Lentine, Anthony L. ^[2]; Mookherjea, Shayan ^[1]

University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

High bandwidth, low voltage electro-optic modulators with high optical power handling capability are important for improving the performance of analog optical communications and RF photonic links. Here we designed and fabricated a thin-film lithium niobate (LN) Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which can handle high optical power of 110 mW, while having 3-dB bandwidth greater than 110 GHz at 1550 nm. The design does not require etching of thin-film LN, and uses hybrid optical modes formed by bonding LN to planarized silicon photonic waveguide circuits. A high optical power handling capability in the MZM was achieved by carefully tapering the underlying Si waveguide to reduce the impact of optically-generated carriers, while retaining a high modulation efficiency. The MZM has a $$V_πL$$ product of 3.1 V.cm and an on-chip optical insertion loss of 1.8 dB.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOD; US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 2471760

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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