Fast thermo-optical modulators with doped-silicon heaters operating at 2 μm.

Abstract

The 2-μm-waveband has been recognized as a potential telecommunication window for next-generation low-loss, low-latency optical communication. Thermo-optic (TO) modulators and switches, which are essential building blocks in a large-scale integrated photonic circuit, and their performances directly affect the energy consumption and reconfiguration time of an on-chip photonic system. Previous TO modulation based on metallic heaters at 2-μm-waveband suffer from slow response time and high power consumption. In this paper, high-performance thermo-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer and ring resonator modulators operating at 2-μm-waveband were demonstrated. By embedding a doped silicon (p++-p-p++) junction into the waveguide, our devices reached a record modulation efficiency of 0.17 nm/mW for Mach-Zehnder interferometer based modulator and its rise/fall time was 3.49 μs/3.46 μs which has been the fastest response time reported in a 2-μm-waveband TO devices so far. And a lowest Pπ power of 3.33 mW among reported 2-μm TO devices was achieved for a ring resonator-based modulator.