Plasmonic-Organic and Silicon-Organic Hybrid Modulators for High-Speed Signal Processing

High-speed electro-optic (EO) modulators are key devices for optical communications, microwave photonics, and for broadband signal processing. Among the different material platforms for high-density photonic integrated circuits (PIC), silicon photonics sticks out because of CMOS foundries specialized in PIC fabrication. However, the absence of the Pockels effect in silicon renders EO modulators with high-efficiency and large modulation bandwidth difficult. In this dissertation, plasmonic and photonic slot waveguide modulators are investigated. The devices are built on the silicon platform and are combined with highly-efficient organic EO materials. Using such a hybrid platform, we realize compact and fast plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) and silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) modulators. As an application example, we demonstrate for the first time an advanced terahertz communication link by directly converting data on a 360 GHz carrier to a data stream on an optical carrier. For optical transmitter applications, we overcome the bandwidth limitation of conventional SOH modulators by introducing a high-k dielectric microwave slotline for guiding the modulating radio-frequency signal which is capacitively-coupled to the EO modulating region. We confirm the viability of such capacitively-coupled SOH modulators by generating four-state pulse amplitude modulated signals with data rates up to 200 Gbit/s

Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics for System-in-Package Applications at 122 GHz

This work presents a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology based system-in-package (SiP) operating beyond 100 GHz. The SiP encloses a semiconductor transceiver chip in a pea-sized LTCC package. The SiP is efficient and robust in terms of its electrical, thermal and mechanical characteristics. Moreover, it is low-cost and requires only standard manufacturing and assembly techniques. Finally, two fully-integrated 122 GHz radar sensors are demonstrated in LTCC technology

Cumulative index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1986-1990, volumes 10-14

Tech Briefs are short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This cumulative index of Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes (subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number) and covers the period 1986 to 1990. The abstract section is organized by the following subject categories: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, computer programs, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences

NASA Tech Briefs, Spring 1984

Topics include: NASA TU Services: Technology Utilization services that can assist you in learning about and applying NASA technology. New Product Ideas: A summary of selected innovations of value to manufacturers for the development of new products; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Life Sciences; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences