We present the experimental results of an error-free high-speed silicon optical modulator based on carrier depletion in a lateral 1.8 mm-long PIPIN diode embedded in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. At 10 Gbit/s, the silicon optical modulator provides a large extinction ratio of 8.1 dB simultaneously with a low optical loss of 6 dB. The silicon modulator is a key element required to build and integrate photonic high performance data links.

Date Published: 10 May 2012
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8431, Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits III, 84310V (10 May 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.922933

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8431:
Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits III
Laurent Vivien; Seppo K. Honkanen; Lorenzo Pavesi; Stefano Pelli, Editor(s)