Physics

Optical power

Laser

Phase noise

Phase modulation

Terahertz radiation

Plasmon

Optics

Modulation (music)

Antenna (radio)

Acoustics

Materials science

Optical modulator

Photonics

Microwave

Computer science

Electro-optic modulator

Optoelectronics

Broadband

Telecommunications

APL Photonics

Broadband electro-optic intensity modulators are essential to convert electrical signals to the optical domain. The growing interest in terahertz wireless applications demands modulators with frequency responses to the sub-terahertz range, high power handling, and very low nonlinear distortions, simultaneously. However, a modulator with all those characteristics has not been demonstrated to date. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that plasmonic modulators do not trade-off any performance parameter, featuring—at the same time—a short length of tens of micrometers, record-high flat frequency response beyond 500 GHz, high power handling, and high linearity, and we use them to create a sub-terahertz radio-over-fiber analog optical link. These devices have the potential to become a new tool in the general field of microwave photonics, making the sub-terahertz range accessible to, e.g., 5G wireless communications, antenna remoting, Internet of Things, sensing, and more.

500 GHz plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulator enabling sub-THz microwave photonics