Abstract
The highest electro-optic (EO) coefficient to date is achieved in short polymeric directional coupler switches based on hybrid EO polymer/sol-gel silica waveguides. Optimized poling conditions in such waveguides give a highest in-device EO coefficient of 160 pm/V at 1550 nm using highly efficient and photostable guest–host EO polymer SEO100. Adiabatic waveguide transitions from the passive sol-gel core to active EO polymer cores surrounding the sol-gel core are shown using EO polymer cores with a coplanar tapered structure. Switching voltages of 8.4 and 10.5 V are achieved for electrodes that are 2.1 and 1.5 mm long, respectively, which are half those of EO switches containing the chromophore AJLS102.
Highlights
Electro-optic (EO) polymer modulators have demonstrated high performance including a large bandwidth of 110 GHz,[1] and a low half-wave voltage (Vπ ) of 0.65 V at 1550 nm.[2]
As we demonstrated in a previous report, coupling lengths of 1.5 and 2.1 mm were used to obtain directional coupling between the two EO polymer cores.[15]
A guest–host EO polymer SEO100 layer with a thickness of 2.7 μm was coated on the sol-gel waveguide and cured
Summary
Electro-optic (EO) polymer modulators have demonstrated high performance including a large bandwidth of 110 GHz,[1] and a low half-wave voltage (Vπ ) of 0.65 V at 1550 nm.[2]. It is difficult to efficiently pole thin layers of EO polymers (e.g., 100–200 nm) in Si slot waveguides to obtain high in-device EO coefficients of >60 pm/V due to the significant change of leakage currents as a function of slot width.[8] For high-speed optical communications, it is more important to balance the EO modulator in terms of larger bandwidth, lower optical insertion loss, and lower Vπ than those of a CMOS circuit. For this application, obtaining a lower Vπ and wider bandwidth are considered to be of high priority. We report a hybrid directional coupler containing a photostable chromophore that exhibits the highest in-device material EO coefficient to date, making it attractive for high-speed optical communication applications
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