Photo excitation stability and bias voltage stability of electro-optic polymer modulators for broadband analog transmission systems

Abstract

Broadband analog transmitters are an important part of many information delivery systems. Nonlinear optical (NLO) polymer devices have shown a great potential of playing a major role in ultra-wide bandwidth analog transmission systems due to the low dielectric constant, flexibility of processing, compatibility with semiconductor technology, and high nonlinearities. The general requirements for polymer modulators used in an externally modulated broadband transmission system were briefly discussed previously.[1] In this summary, we will focus on two practical issues for polymer modulators used in an externally modulated analog transmission system: the photo excitation stability and the quadrature bias voltage stability of electro-optic( EO) polymer modulators. The photo excitation stability is directly related to the signal-to-noise ratio of the analog signal link, device life-time, and processing conditions. The bias voltage stability will affect the fidelity of the transmitted analog signal. Using a thermally crosslinkable polyurethane with Disperse Red 19 side groups(PUR-DR19), we have tested the performance and the stability of EO polymer devices.