Temperature dependence and input optical power tolerance of an InGaAsP electroabsorption modulator module

Abstract

We report the temperature dependence and input optical power tolerance of an InGaAsP electroabsorption (EA) modulator module. Thermal stability of the module was found to be very high. The optimum ΔEg at 20°C has been estimated to be 48–55 meV. At ΔEg of 53 meV, the insertion loss was almost independent of the temperature, while the driving voltage was strongly dependent on the temperature. The breakdown phenomena were investigated in detail; these occurred under conditions of very high input power and/or high bias voltage. Input power for breakdown was smaller for higher bias voltage or smaller ΔEg. Allowable maximum input optical power has a large margin (>5 dB) for the conventional input level in practical systems.