Extinction ratio

Bandwidth (computing)

Silicon on insulator

Materials science

Modulation (music)

Telecommunications

Optical modulator

Computer science

Acoustics

Silicon

Wavelength

Phase noise

Insertion loss

Physics

Optics

Electro-optic modulator

Gigabit

Interferometry

Silicon photonics

Transceiver

Phase modulation

Mach–Zehnder interferometer

CMOS

Optoelectronics

Optica

The 2 μm wavelength band has become a promising candidate to be the next communication window.We demonstrate high-speed modulators based on a 220 nm silicon-on-insulator platform working at a wavelength of 1950 nm, using the free carrier plasma dispersion effect in silicon.A Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulator and a microring modulator have been characterized.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 (V π • L π ) is 2.68 V•cm at 4 V reverse bias.The device operation is broadband, and we also characterize its performance at 1550 nm.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.We also show a ring modulator paired with a low power integrated driver working in hybrid carrier depletion and injection mode at a data rate of 3 Gbit/s with power consumption of 2.38 pJ/bit in the 2 μm wavelength range.This work is a proof of principle demonstration and paves a route toward a full silicon-based transceiver in the 2 μm window.

High-speed silicon modulators for the 2 μm wavelength band