Silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in periodically interleaved PN junctions

We present the design and numerical simulation results for a silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in a linear array of periodically interleaved PN junctions that are oriented perpendicular to the light propagation direction. In this geometry the overlap of the optical waveguide mode with the depletion region is much larger than in designs using a single PN junction aligned parallel to the waveguide propagation direction. Simulations predict that an optimized modulator will have a high modulation efficiency of 0.56 V.cm for a 3V bias, with a 3 dB frequency bandwidth of over 40 GHz. This device has a length of 1.86 mm with a maximum intrinsic loss of 4.3 dB at 0V bias, due to free carrier absorption. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Transient Reorientation of a Doped Liquid Crystal System under a Short Laser Pulse

The transient optical nonlinearity of a nematic liquid crystal doped with azo-dye DR19 is examined. The optical reorientation threshold of a 25-mu m-thick planar-aligned sample of 5CB using a 50 ns pulse duration 532 nm YAG laser pulse is observed to decrease from 800 mJ/mm(2) to 0.6 mJ/mm(2) after the addition of 1 vol% azo dopant, a reduction of three orders of magnitude. When using a laser pulse duration of 10 ns, no such effect is observed. Experimental results indicate that the azo dopant molecules undergo photoisomerization from trans-isomer to cis-isomer under exposure to light, and this conformation change reorients the 5CB molecules via intermolecular coupling between guest and host. This guest-host coupling also affects the azo photoisomerization process.

A ridge width varied two-section index-coupled DFB self-pulsation laser with a wide continuously tunable frequency range

A 1.55 mu m InGaAsP-InP index-coupled two-section DFB self-pulsation laser (SPL) with a varied ridge width has been fabricated. A record wide self-pulsation tuning range above 450 GHz has been achieved for this index-coupled DFB SPL. Furthermore, frequency locking to an optically injected modulated signal is successfully demonstrated.

Well-width dependence of in-plane optical anisotropy in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry

The well-width dependence of in-plane optical anisotropy (IPOA) in (001) GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry has been studied comprehensively. Theoretical calculations show that the IPOA induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry exhibits much different well-width dependence. The strain-induced IPOA is inversely proportional to the energy spacing between heavy- and light-hole subbands, so it increases with the well width. However, the interface-related IPOA is mainly determined by the probability that the heavy- and light-holes appear at the interfaces, so it decreases with the well width. Reflectance difference spectroscopy has been carried out to measure the IPOA of (001) GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells with different well widths. Strain- and interface-induced IPOA have been distinguished by using a stress apparatus, and good agreement with the theoretical prediction is obtained. The anisotropic interface potential parameters are also determined. In addition, the energy shift between the interface- and strain-induced 1H1E reflectance difference (RD) structures, and the deviation of the 1L1E RD signal away from the prediction of the calculation model have been discussed.

40-Gb/s Low Chirp Electroabsorption Modulator Integrated With DFB Laser

A 40-Gb/s monolithically integrated transmitter containing an InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well electroabsorption modulator (EAM) with lumped electrode and a distributed-feedback semiconductor laser is demonstrated. Superior characteristics are exhibited for the device, such as low threshold current of 20 mA, over 40-dB sidemode suppression ratio at 1550 nm, and more than 30-dB dc extinction ratio when coupled into a single-mode fiber. By adopting a deep ridge waveguide and planar electrode structures combined with buried benzocyclobutene, the capacitance of the EAM is reduced to 0.18 pF and the small-signal modulation bandwidth exceeds 33 GHz. Negative chirp operation is also realized when the bias voltage is beyond 1.6 V.

Microwave generation in an electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser subject to optical injection

This paper presents a new technique to generate microwave signal using an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser subject to optical injection. Experiments show that the frequency of the generated microwave can be tuned by changing the wavelength of the external laser or adjusting the bias voltage of the EAM. The frequency response of the EAM is studied and found to be unsmooth due to packaging parasitic effects and four-wave mixing effect occurring in the active layer of the DFB laser. It is also demonstrated that an EA modulator integrated in between two DFB lasers can be used instead of the EML under optical injection. This integrated chip can be used to realize a monolithically integrated tunable microwave source. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

A selective area growth double stack active layer electroabsorption modulator integrated with a distributed feedback laser

A new method for fabricating electroabsorption modulator integrated with a distributed feedback laser (EML) was proposed. With the method we fabricated a selective area growth double stack active layer EML (SAG-DSAL-EML). Through comparing with other fabrication methods of EMLs, the characters and the merits of the new method presented in this paper were discussed.

Enhancement of the spectral width of high-power 1.5 mu m integrated superluminescent light source by quantum well intermixing process

A novel type of integrated InGaAsP superluminescent light source was fabricated based on the tilted ridge-waveguide structure with selective-area quantum well (QW) intermixing. The bandgap structure along the length of the device was modified by impurity free vacancy diffusion QW intermixing, The spectral width was broadened from the 16 nm of the normal devices to 37 nm of the QW intermixing enhanced devices at the same output power level. High superluminescent power (210 mW) was obtained under pulsed conditions with a spectral width of 37 nm.

Laser diode monolithically integrated with an electroabsorption modulator and dual-waveguide spot-size converter

A 1.60-mu m laser diode and electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with a dual-waveguide spot-size converter output for low-loss coupling to cleaved single-mode optical fiber is demonstrated. The devices emit in a single transverse and quasi-single longitudinal mode with a side mode suppression ratio of 25.6 dB. These devices exhibit a 3-dB modulation bandwidth of 16.0 GHz, and modulator extinction ratios of 16.2 dB dc. The beam divergence angle is about 7.3x10.6 deg, resulting in 3.0-dB coupling loss with cleaved single-mode optical fiber. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Monolithically integrated semiconductor optical amplifier and electroabsorption modulator with dual-waveguide spot-size converter input and output

We have demonstrated an electroabsorption modulator and semiconductor optical amplifier monolithically integrated with novel dual-waveguide spot-size converters (SSC) at the input and output ports for low-loss coupling to a planar light-guide circuit silica waveguide or cleaved single-mode optical fibre. The device was fabricated by means of selective-area MOVPE growth, quantum well intermixing and asymmetric twin waveguide technologies with only a three-step low-pressure MOVPE growth. For the device structure, in the SOA/EAM section, a double ridge structure was employed to reduce the EAM capacitances and enable high bit-rate operation. In the SSC sections, buried ridge structure (BRS) was incorporated. Such a combination of ridge, ATG and BRS structure is reported for the first time in which it can take advantage of easy processing of the ridge structure and the excellent mode characteristic of BRS. At the wavelength range of 1550-1600 nm, lossless operation with extinction ratios of 25 dB dc and more than 10 GHz 3 dB bandwidth is successfully achieved, The beam divergence angles of the input and output ports of the device are as small as 8.0 degrees x 12.6 degrees, resulting in 3.0 dB coupling loss with a cleaved single-mode optical fibre.

Monolithically integrated laser diode and electroabsorption modulator with dual-waveguide spot-size converter input and output

We have demonstrated a 1.60 mu m ridge-structure laser diode and electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with buried-ridge-structure dual-waveguide spot-size converters at the input and output ports for low-loss coupling to a cleaved single-mode optical fibre by means of selective area growth and asymmetric twin waveguide technologies. The devices emit in single transverse and quasi-single longitudinal modes with a side mode suppression ratio of 25.6 dB. These devices exhibit 3 dB modulation bandwidth of 15.0 GHz and modulator extinction ratios of 14.0 dB dc. The output beam divergence angles of the spot-size converter in the horizontal and vertical directions are as small as 7.3 degrees x 10.6 degrees, respectively, resulting in 3.0 dB coupling loss with a cleaved single-mode optical fibre.

A 10-GHz bandwidth electroabsorption modulated laser by ultra-low-pressure selective area growth

A novel integration technique has been developed using band-gap energy control of InGaAsP/InGaAsP multi-quantum-well (MQW) structures during simultaneous ultra-low-pressure (22 mbar) selective-area-growth (SAG) process in metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. A fundamental study of the controllability of band gap energy by the SAG method is performed. A large band-gap photoluminescence wavelength shift of 83nm is obtained with a small mask width variation (0-30 mu m). The method is then applied to fabricate an MQW distributed-feedback laser monolithically integrated with an electroabsorption modulator. The experimental results exhibit superior device characteristics with low threshold of 19 mA, over 24 dB extinction ratio when coupled into a single mode fibre. More than 10GHz modulation bandwidth is also achieved, which demonstrates that the ultra-low-pressure SAG technique is a promising approach for high-speed transmission photonic integrated circuits.

Lossless electroabsorption modulator monolithically rntegrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier and dual-wavegulde spot-size converters

Semiconductor optical amplifier and electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with dual-waveguide spot-size converters at the input and output ports is demonstrated by means of selective area growth, quantum-well intermixing, and asymmetric twin waveguide technologies. At the wavelength range of 1550 similar to 1600 nm, lossless operation with extinction ratios of 25-dB dc and 11.8-dB radio frequency and more than 10-GHz 3-dB modulation bandwidth is successfully achieved. The output beam divergence angles of the device in the horizontal and vertical directions are as small as 7.3 degrees x 10.6 degrees, respectively, resulting in 3.0-dB coupling loss with cleaved single-mode optical fiber.

Butt-coupled MOVPE growth for high-performance electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser

A novel butt-joint coupling scheme is proposed to improve the coupling efficiency for the integration of a GalnAsP MQW distributed feedback (DFB) laser with an MQW electro-absorption modulator (EAM). The proposed method gives more than 90% coupling efficiency, being much higher than the 26% coupling efficiency of the common MQW-MQW coupling technique. The differential quantum efficiency of the MQW-bulk-MQW coupled device is also much higher than that of the MQW-MQW device, 0.106 mW/mA versus 0.02 mW/mA. The EAM-DFB devices fabricated by the proposed method exhibit a very high modulation efficiency (12 dB/V) from 0 to I V. By adopting a high-mesa ridge waveguide and buried polyimide, the capacitance of the modulator is reduced to about 0.28 pF. The experimental results demonstrate that the method can replace the conventional MQW-MQW coupling technique to fabricate high-quality integrated photonic devices. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrical and optical coupling in an electroabsorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser

Electrical and optical coupling in an electroabsorption (EA) modulator integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser have been investigated. The integrated device is treated as a three-port optoelectronic device with two electrical ports and one optical output port. The scattering parameters of this three-port device have been measured in the designed experiment. The measured results indicate that there exists the electrical coupling between the DFB laser and EA modulator of the integrated light source whenever the current applied to the laser section is below or above the threshold current, and the optical coupling will have stronger influence on the frequency responses than the electrical coupling when the bias current is above the threshold. A small-signal equivalent circuit model for the integrated device is established considering both the electrical and internal optical coupling. Experiments show that the equivalent circuit model is reasonable and the determined element values are correct. Based on the measurement and modeling, the influences of the electrical and optical coupling on the high-frequency responses are investigated and the effective measure to eliminate the additional modulation in the DFB laser are discussed.