Phys.org August 23, 2023 Digitalizing optical signals through electric driving signals, electro-optic modulators (EOMs) are one of the cardinal elements in modern optical communications. Most of current EOM devices are targeting on-chip integrations, which routinely suffer from high coupling losses, complex optical alignments, and single-band operations. Researchers in China integrated a lumped EOM device on the end faces of a single-mode optical fiber jumper for fast amplitude modulations. Taking advantage of the ultrathin and high quality-factor plasmonic metasurfaces, nanofabrication-friendly and highly efficient EO polymers and coupling-free connections with fiber networks, the EOM was demonstrated to allow dual-band operations and high-speed […]
Tag Archives: Modulators
The magneto-optic modulator
EurekAlert September 16, 2022 Superconducting microprocessors and quantum computers promise to revolutionize computation, but ultra-cold components must interface with ambient temperature systems. An international team of researchers (USA – UC Santa Barbara, industry, Italy, UK, Japan) has built a device that translates electrical input into pulses of light. An electric current creates a magnetic field that changes the refractive index of a synthetic garnet making it possible to tune the amplitude of the light that circulates in a micro-ring resonator. This creates bright and dark pulses that carry information through the fiberoptic cable. The modulator operates at wavelengths of 1,550 […]
A performance leap for graphene modulators in next generation datacom and telecom
Nanowerk February 16, 2021 Electro-absorption (EA) waveguide-coupled modulators are essential building blocks for on-chip optical communications. Compared to state-of-the-art silicon devices, graphene-based EA modulators promise smaller footprints, larger temperature stability, cost-effective integration, and high speeds. However, combining high speed and large modulation efficiencies in a single graphene-based device has remained elusive so far. An international team of researchers (Spain, Italy, Belgium) overcame this fundamental trade-off by demonstrating the 2D-3D dielectric integration in a high-quality encapsulated graphene device. They integrated hafnium oxide and two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride within the insulating section of a double-layer graphene EA modulator. This combination of materials […]
Photonics researchers report breakthrough in miniaturizing light-based chips
Nanowerk August 27, 2020 Researchers at the University of Rochester made an important step towards miniaturizing functional components on thin-film lithium niobate (LN) platform by developing high-speed LN electro-optic modulators, based upon photonic crystal nanobeam resonators. The devices exhibit a significant tuning efficiency, broad modulation bandwidth of 17.5 GHz, all with a tiny electro-optic modal volume. The modulators enable efficient electro-optic driving of high-Q photonic cavity modes in both adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes and allow electro-optic switching at 11 Gb s−1 with a bit-switching energy as low as 22 fJ. The demonstration provides a crucial foundation for realizing large-scale LN […]