A new class of thermally driven micro-modulators at 1.3 and 1.55 μm is proposed and tested. The devices, entirely fabricated using silicon microelectronic techniques, are single-mode low-loss (< 1 dB/cm) waveguide integrated. A combined thermal and optical simulation study is performed to assess the impact of the driving signal shape on the device speed performances. The results clearly indicate that the cooling phase after the application of a heat pulse constitutes the true speed limiting factor of the device. To enhance the heat exchange in this phase, we have analysed the hypothesis of applying a new three-level driving signal, which holds the modulator at a higher average temperature with respect to the environment and the substrate heat sink. The simulations show that the new signal proposed allows a transmission rate of 2.2 Mb/s, representing over a 30-fold bandwidth widening with respect to the standard modulation scheme.

High-speed thermo-optical modulation in waveguide-integrated modulators

DELLA CORTE, Francesco Giuseppe
2001-01-01

Abstract

A new class of thermally driven micro-modulators at 1.3 and 1.55 μm is proposed and tested. The devices, entirely fabricated using silicon microelectronic techniques, are single-mode low-loss (< 1 dB/cm) waveguide integrated. A combined thermal and optical simulation study is performed to assess the impact of the driving signal shape on the device speed performances. The results clearly indicate that the cooling phase after the application of a heat pulse constitutes the true speed limiting factor of the device. To enhance the heat exchange in this phase, we have analysed the hypothesis of applying a new three-level driving signal, which holds the modulator at a higher average temperature with respect to the environment and the substrate heat sink. The simulations show that the new signal proposed allows a transmission rate of 2.2 Mb/s, representing over a 30-fold bandwidth widening with respect to the standard modulation scheme.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12318/16272
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