Organic electro-optic (EO) materials and their hybrid systems have received considerable attention for high-performance modulators. In this work, we demonstrate the design and fabrication of an EO modulator with a low half-wave voltage (Vπ) and a RF modulation response up to at least 10 GHz. The polymer used in this work has a glass transition temperature of 172 °C, which makes it stable even under high temperature RF sputtering. As a result, an EO polymer-cladded titanium dioxide (TiO2) waveguide structure can be utilized to enlarge the confinement factor, and thus, enable a low Vπ. The response of the modulator from 4 to 10 GHz has been measured, which shows a flat frequency response up to 10 GHz and a potential for the application in several tens GHz.
References
1.
C.
Haffner
, W.
Heni
, Y.
Fedoryshyn
, J.
Niegemann
, A.
Melikyan
, D. L.
Elder
, B.
Baeuerle
, Y.
Salamin
, A.
Josten
, U.
Koch
, C.
Hoessbacher
, F.
Ducry
, L.
Juchli
, A.
Emboras
, D.
Hillerkuss
, M.
Kohl
, L. R.
Dalton
, C.
Hafner
, and J.
Leuthold
, “All-plasmonic Mach–Zehnder modulator enabling optical high-speed communication at the microscale
,” Nat. Photonics
9
, 525
–528
(2015
).2.
A.
Melikyan
, L.
Alloatti
, A.
Muslija
, D.
Hillerkuss
, P. C.
Schindler
, J.
Li
, R.
Palmer
, D.
Korn
, S.
Muehlbrandt
, D.
Van Thourhout
, B.
Chen
, R.
Dinu
, M.
Sommer
, C.
Koos
, M.
Kohl
, W.
Freude
, and J.
Leuthold
, “High-speed plasmonic phase modulators
,” Nat. Photonics
8
(3
), 229
–233
(2014
).3.
M.
Lee
, H. E.
Katz
, C.
Erben
, D. M.
Gill
, P.
Gopalan
, J. D.
Heber
, and D. J.
McGee
, “Broadband modulation of light by using an electro-optic polymer
,” Science
298
(5597
), 1401
–1403
(2002
).4.
X.
Zhang
, A.
Hosseini
, X.
Lin
, H.
Subbaraman
, and R. T.
Chen
, “Polymer-based hybrid-integrated photonic devices for silicon on-chip modulation and board-level optical interconnects
,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.
19
(6
), 196
–210
(2013
).5.
J.
Luo
and A. K. Y.
Jen
, “Highly efficient organic electrooptic materials and their hybrid systems for advanced photonic devices
,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.
19
(6
), 42
–53
(2013
).6.
J. D.
Luo
, S.
Huang
, Z. W.
Shi
, B. M.
Polishak
, X. H.
Zhou
, and A. K. Y.
Jen
, “Tailored organic electro-optic materials and their hybrid systems for device applications
,” Chem. Mater.
23
, 544
–553
(2011
).7.
R.
Palmer
, S.
Koeber
, D. L.
Elder
, M.
Woessner
, W.
Heni
, D.
Korn
, M.
Lauermann
, W.
Bogaerts
, L.
Dalton
, W.
Freude
, J.
Leuthold
, and C.
Koos
, “High-speed, low drive-voltage silicon-organic hybrid modulator based on a binary-chromophore electro-optic material
,” J. Lightwave Technol.
32
(16
), 2726
–2734
(2014
).8.
L.
Alloatti
, R.
Palmer
, S.
Diebold
, K. P.
Pahl
, B.
Chen
, R.
Dinu
, M.
Fournier
, J.-M.
Fedeli
, T.
Zwick
, W.
Freude
, C.
Koos
, and J.
Leuthold
, “100 GHz silicon–organic hybrid modulator
,” Light Sci. Appl.
3
(5
), e173
(2014
).9.
X.
Zhang
, A.
Hosseini
, S.
Chakravarty
, J.
Luo
, A. K.-Y.
Jen
, and R. T.
Chen
, “Wide optical spectrum range, subvolt, compact modulator based on an electro-optic polymer refilled silicon slot photonic crystal waveguide
,” Opt. Lett.
38
(22
), 4931
–4934
(2013
).10.
C.
Chen
, F.
Zhang
, H.
Wang
, X.
Sun
, F.
Wang
, Z.
Cui
, and D.
Zhang
, “UV curable electro-optic polymer switch based on direct photodefinition technique
,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
47
(7
), 959
–964
(2011
).11.
R.
Song
, A.
Yick
, and W. H.
Steier
, “Conductivity-dependency-free in-plane poling for Mach-Zehnder modulator with highly conductive electro-optic polymer
,” Appl. Phys. Lett.
90
, 191103
(2007
).12.
F.
Qiu
, A. M.
Spring
, F.
Yu
, I.
Aoki
, A.
Otomo
, and S.
Yokoyama
, “Thin TiO2 core and electro-optic polymer cladding waveguide modulators
,” Appl. Phys. Lett.
102
, 233504
(2013
).13.
F.
Qiu
, A. M.
Spring
, F.
Yu
, A. I.
Aoki
, A.
Otomo
, and S.
Yokoyama
, “Electro-optic polymer/titanium dioxide hybrid core ring resonator modulators
,” Laser Photonics Rev.
7
, L84
–L88
(2013
).14.
X.
Piao
, Z.
Zhang
, Y.
Mori
, M.
Koishi
, A.
Nakaya
, S.
Inoue
, I.
Aoki
, A.
Otomo
, and S.
Yokoyama
, “Nonlinear optical side-chain polymers postfunctionalized with high-β chromophores exhibiting large electro-optic property
,” J. Polym. Sci. Part A
49
(1
), 47
–54
(2011
).15.
C. C.
Teng
and H. T.
Man
, “Simple reflection technique for measuring the electro-optic coefficient of poled polymers
,” Appl. Phys. Lett.
56
, 1734
–1736
(1990
).16.
L.
Alloatti
, D.
Korn
, R.
Palmer
, D.
Hillerkuss
, J.
Li
, A.
Barklund
, R.
Dinu
, J.
Wieland
, M.
Fournier
, J.
Fedeli
, H.
Yu
, W.
Bogaerts
, P.
Dumon
, R.
Baets
, C.
Koos
, W.
Freude
, and J.
Leuthold
, “42.7 Gbit/s electro-optic modulator in silicon technology
,” Opt. Express
19
(12
), 11841
–11851
(2011
).17.
F.
Bowman
, Introduction to Bessel Functions
(Dover Publications Inc.
, New York
, 1958
).© 2016 Author(s).
2016
Author(s)
You do not currently have access to this content.
