The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

High-speed silicon photonics modulators for the 2 μm wavelength

High-speed silicon photonics modulators for the 2 μm wavelength
High-speed silicon photonics modulators for the 2 μm wavelength
The 2 µm communication windows has established itself amongst other solutions to address the capacity crunch. The 2 µm window offers three benefits: predicted ultra low loss windows of hollow-core fibres, optical amplification gain windows of thulium doped amplifier and compatibility with the silicon photonics silicon-oninsulator platform. We demonstrate state of the art high-speed modulators based on a 220 nm siliconon-insulator platform operating at a wavelength of 1950 nm using the free carrier plasma dispersion effect in silicon. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer carrierdepletion modulator has a modulation efficiency (Vπ·Lπ) of 2.89 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias. The insertion loss is 5.25 dB. It operates at a data rate of 25 Gbit/s OOK with an extinction ratio of 6.25 dB. We have also demonstrated a streamlined dual drive PAM4 generation method, producing 25 Gbit/s PAM4 signal using the same device. A Michelson interferometer is demonstrated with a Vπ·Lπ of 1.36 V·cm. It has almost double the efficiency of an equivalent MZM. It reaches a data rate of 20 Gbit/s. A broadband MZM was developed and its performance has been characterized at both 1550 nm and 1950 nm wavelengths. At 1950 nm, the carrier-depletion modulator operates at a data rate of 20 Gbit/s with an extinction ratio of 5.8 dB and insertion loss of 13 dB. The modulation efficiency (Vπ·Lπ) is 2.68 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias. At 1550 nm, an open eye is obtained at 30 Gbit/s. The difference in bandwidth is caused by the bandwidth limit of the 2 µm measurement setup. This work is a proof of principle demonstration, significantly improving previously published results and filling the long pending gap for the 2 µm silicon modulators. It paves a route towards a fully silicon-based transceiver in the 2 µm window.
University of Southampton
Cao, Wei
5202fa2b-a471-45d4-84e9-9104dffdbbfc
Cao, Wei
5202fa2b-a471-45d4-84e9-9104dffdbbfc
Mashanovich, Goran
c806e262-af80-4836-b96f-319425060051

Cao, Wei (2020) High-speed silicon photonics modulators for the 2 μm wavelength. Doctoral Thesis, 139pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The 2 µm communication windows has established itself amongst other solutions to address the capacity crunch. The 2 µm window offers three benefits: predicted ultra low loss windows of hollow-core fibres, optical amplification gain windows of thulium doped amplifier and compatibility with the silicon photonics silicon-oninsulator platform. We demonstrate state of the art high-speed modulators based on a 220 nm siliconon-insulator platform operating at a wavelength of 1950 nm using the free carrier plasma dispersion effect in silicon. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer carrierdepletion modulator has a modulation efficiency (Vπ·Lπ) of 2.89 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias. The insertion loss is 5.25 dB. It operates at a data rate of 25 Gbit/s OOK with an extinction ratio of 6.25 dB. We have also demonstrated a streamlined dual drive PAM4 generation method, producing 25 Gbit/s PAM4 signal using the same device. A Michelson interferometer is demonstrated with a Vπ·Lπ of 1.36 V·cm. It has almost double the efficiency of an equivalent MZM. It reaches a data rate of 20 Gbit/s. A broadband MZM was developed and its performance has been characterized at both 1550 nm and 1950 nm wavelengths. At 1950 nm, the carrier-depletion modulator operates at a data rate of 20 Gbit/s with an extinction ratio of 5.8 dB and insertion loss of 13 dB. The modulation efficiency (Vπ·Lπ) is 2.68 V·cm at 4 V reverse bias. At 1550 nm, an open eye is obtained at 30 Gbit/s. The difference in bandwidth is caused by the bandwidth limit of the 2 µm measurement setup. This work is a proof of principle demonstration, significantly improving previously published results and filling the long pending gap for the 2 µm silicon modulators. It paves a route towards a fully silicon-based transceiver in the 2 µm window.

Text
Thesis_Wei_Final_OptimizedNoSig - Version of Record
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (26MB)
Text
Thesis_Wei_Final_Optimized - Other
Restricted to Repository staff only
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Text
PDThesis form Wei - SIGNED
Restricted to Repository staff only

More information

Published date: June 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 448511
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/448511
PURE UUID: 4264babd-3fa2-431c-b2df-52c989a94336
ORCID for Wei Cao: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1431-7060

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Apr 2021 16:34
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:22

Export record

Contributors

Author: Wei Cao ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Goran Mashanovich

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×