110 GHz, 110 mW Hybrid Silicon-Lithium Niobate Mach-Zehnder Modulator

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid silicon-lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulator capable of handling high optical power and achieving ultra-wide bandwidth, suitable for advanced optical communication systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel design of a high-power, high-bandwidth hybrid LN-Silicon MZM that does not require etching of thin-film LN, enhancing performance and manufacturability.

Findings

110 mW optical power handling

>110 GHz bandwidth at 1550 nm

V_pi L of 3.1 V·cm

Abstract

High bandwidth, low voltage electro-optic modulators with high optical power handling capability are important for improving the performance of analog optical communications and RF photonic links. Here we designed and fabricated a thin-film lithium niobate (LN) Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which can handle high optical power of 110 mW, while having 3-dB bandwidth greater than 110 GHz at 1550 nm. The design does not require etching of thin-film LN, and uses hybrid optical modes formed by bonding LN to planarized silicon photonic waveguide circuits. A high optical power handling capability in the MZM was achieved by carefully tapering the underlying Si waveguide to reduce the impact of optically-generated carriers, while retaining a high modulation efficiency. The MZM has a $V_\pi L$ product of 3.1 V$.$cm and an on-chip optical insertion loss of 1.8 dB.