Electro-optic frequency response shaping in high speed Mach-Zehnder modulators

We demonstrate a simple technique to shape the electro-optic frequency response of high-speed TW-MZMs. C-band transmission of 56Gb/s NRZ over 3km SSMF shows 5dB power-penalty improvement at KP4-FEC between a standard and shaped MZM design

Silicon-Organic Hybrid (SOH) Mach-Zehnder Modulators for 100 Gbit/s On-Off Keying

Electro-optic modulators for high-speed on-off keying (OOK) are key components of short- and mediumreach interconnects in data-center networks. Besides small footprint and cost-efficient large-scale production, small drive voltages and ultra-low power consumption are of paramount importance for such devices. Here we demonstrate that the concept of silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration is perfectly suited for meeting these challenges. The approach combines the unique processing advantages of large-scale silicon photonics with unrivalled electro-optic (EO) coefficients obtained by molecular engineering of organic materials. In our proof-of-concept experiments, we demonstrate generation and transmission of OOK signals with line rates of up to 100 Gbit/s using a 1.1 mm-long SOH Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which features a {\pi}-voltage of only 0.9 V. This experiment represents not only the first demonstration of 100 Gbit/s OOK on the silicon photonic platform, but also leads to the lowest drive voltage and energy consumption ever demonstrated at this data rate for a semiconductor-based device. We support our experimental results by a theoretical analysis and show that the nonlinear transfer characteristic of the MZM can be exploited to overcome bandwidth limitations of the modulator and of the electric driver circuitry. The devices are fabricated in a commercial silicon photonics line and can hence be combined with the full portfolio of standard silicon photonic devices. We expect that high-speed power-efficient SOH modulators may have transformative impact on short-reach optical networks, enabling compact transceivers with unprecedented energy efficiency that will be at the heart of future Ethernet interfaces at Tbit/s data rates

Electrically packaged silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) I/Q-modulator for 64 GBd operation

Silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) electro-optic (EO) modulators combine small footprint with low operating voltage and hence low power dissipation, thus lending themselves to on-chip integration of large-scale device arrays. Here we demonstrate an electrical packaging concept that enables high-density radio-frequency (RF) interfaces between on-chip SOH devices and external circuits. The concept combines high-resolution $\mathrm{Al_2O_3}$ printed-circuit boards with technically simple metal wire bonds and is amenable to packaging of device arrays with small on-chip bond pad pitches. In a set of experiments, we characterize the performance of the underlying RF building blocks and we demonstrate the viability of the overall concept by generation of high-speed optical communication signals. Achieving line rates (symbols rates) of 128 Gbit/s (64 GBd) using quadrature-phase-shiftkeying (QPSK) modulation and of 160 Gbit/s (40 GBd) using 16-state quadrature-amplitudemodulation (16QAM), we believe that our demonstration represents an important step in bringing SOH modulators from proof-of-concept experiments to deployment in commercial environments

Coherent modulation up to 100 GBd 16QAM using silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) devices

We demonstrate the generation of higher-order modulation formats using silicon-based inphase/quadrature (IQ) modulators at symbol rates of up to 100 GBd. Our devices exploit the advantages of silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration, which combines silicon-on-insulator waveguides with highly efficient organic electro-optic (EO) cladding materials to enable small drive voltages and sub-millimeter device lengths. In our experiments, we use an SOH IQ modulator with a {\pi}-voltage of 1.6 V to generate 100 GBd 16QAM signals. This is the first time that the 100 GBd mark is reached with an IQ modulator realized on a semiconductor substrate, leading to a single-polarization line rate of 400 Gbit/s. The peak-to-peak drive voltages amount to 1.5 Vpp, corresponding to an electrical energy dissipation in the modulator of only 25 fJ/bit

Silicon-organic hybrid devices for high-speed electro-optic signal processing

Among the various elements of the silicon photonics platform, electro-optic IQ modulators play an important role. In this book, silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration is used to realize electro-optic IQ modulators for complex signal processing. Leveraging the high nonlinearity of organic materials, SOH IQ modulators provide low energy consumption for high-speed data transmission and frequency shifting. Furthermore, the device design is adapted for commercial foundry processes

Electro-optic frequency response shaping using embedded FIR filters in slow-wave modulators

A novel method is presented to embed finite-impulse-response filters in slow-wave Mach-Zehnder modulators. This allows to adjust the electro-optic frequency response to the designer's needs. The filter is embedded by adding optical delay lines and optical crossings between phase shifter segments. The position of the delay lines and crossing in the modulator and the delay line length determine the final response. In this work, we provide a full analysis and modeling approach of the proposed technique and apply it to a silicon photonic modulator. However, the technique is generally applicable to slow-wave modulators and thus not limited to a silicon photonics platform. The modeling is verified using measurements on the manufactured devices. A shaped modulator is used in C-band transmission experiments with 56 Gb/s NRZ data over 3 km fiber to counteract chromatic dispersion and show the advantage over a standard modulator