Silicon optical modulators
Silicon optical modulators
Optical technology is poised to revolutionise short reach interconnects. The leading candidate technology is silicon photonics, and the workhorse of such interconnect is the optical modulator. Modulators have been improved dramatically in recent years. Most notably the bandwidth has increased from the MHz to the multi GHz regime in little more than half a decade. However, the demands of optical interconnect are significant, and many questions remain unanswered as to whether silicon can meet the required performance metrics. Minimising metrics such as the energy per bit, and device footprint, whilst maximising bandwidth and modulation depth are non trivial demands. All of this must be achieved with acceptable thermal tolerance and optical spectral width, using CMOS compatible fabrication processes. Here we discuss the techniques that have, and will, be used to implement silicon optical modulators, as well as the outlook for these devices, and the candidate solutions of the future.
518-526
Reed, G.T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
Mashanovich, G.
c806e262-af80-4836-b96f-319425060051
Gardes, F.Y.
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Thomson, David
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
August 2010
Reed, G.T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
Mashanovich, G.
c806e262-af80-4836-b96f-319425060051
Gardes, F.Y.
7a49fc6d-dade-4099-b016-c60737cb5bb2
Thomson, David
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Reed, G.T., Mashanovich, G., Gardes, F.Y. and Thomson, David
(2010)
Silicon optical modulators.
Nature Photonics, 4 (8), .
(doi:10.1038/nphoton.2010.179).
Abstract
Optical technology is poised to revolutionise short reach interconnects. The leading candidate technology is silicon photonics, and the workhorse of such interconnect is the optical modulator. Modulators have been improved dramatically in recent years. Most notably the bandwidth has increased from the MHz to the multi GHz regime in little more than half a decade. However, the demands of optical interconnect are significant, and many questions remain unanswered as to whether silicon can meet the required performance metrics. Minimising metrics such as the energy per bit, and device footprint, whilst maximising bandwidth and modulation depth are non trivial demands. All of this must be achieved with acceptable thermal tolerance and optical spectral width, using CMOS compatible fabrication processes. Here we discuss the techniques that have, and will, be used to implement silicon optical modulators, as well as the outlook for these devices, and the candidate solutions of the future.
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 July 2010
Published date: August 2010
Organisations:
Optoelectronics Research Centre, Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 356340
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/356340
ISSN: 1749-4885
PURE UUID: d5d3fb54-18cf-437e-8264-852f12dc1687
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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2013 11:25
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:40
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