Low voltage and high-bandwidth thin-film lithium tantalate modulator on a silicon dioxide substrate

TL;DR

This paper reports the first fabrication of thin-film lithium tantalate electro-optic modulators on fused silica, achieving high bandwidth and low voltage, suitable for next-generation high-speed optical communication.

Contribution

It introduces a novel thin-film lithium tantalate modulator on silica substrate with high bandwidth and low voltage, expanding the material platform for integrated photonics.

Findings

Achieved 64 GHz electro-optic bandwidth with 1.53 V half-wave voltage.

Demonstrated a net data rate of 440.6 Gbps using PAM8 signaling.

Modulator exhibits low bias drift and potential for 100 GHz operation.

Abstract

Modern communication networks demand ever-increasing transmission bandwidth, placing stringent requirements on low-cost, high-performance electro-optic modulators. Substantial advances have been made in integrated photonics employing lithium niobate on insulator. In contrast, photonic integrated circuits based on lithium tantalate -- a material already commercially adopted for wireless filters -- have been developed, offering reduced DC drift, higher optical power handling, and lower birefringence. These advantages enable more complex and dense photonic integrated circuits, and make lithium tantalate a promising material platform for next-generation integrated electro-optic modulators. However, in contrast to the extensively studied thin-film lithium niobate platform, thin-film lithium tantalate modulators have only been explored on silicon substrates. Here, we report the first fabrication and characterization of thin-film lithium tantalate electro-optic modulators manufactured on a 4-inch (100 mm) fused-silica substrate for adapting a low-loss slow-wave microwave electrode to improve the electro-optic bandwidth. By employing a slow-wave electrode design to achieve velocity matching between microwave and optical signals, the demonstrated modulator achieves a 3-dB electro-optic bandwidth of 64 GHz with a low half-wave voltage of 1.53 V, with potential to operate at the measured 100 GHz electrical bandwidth, if the employed spectral biasing is removed. The modulator moreover exhibits low bias drift, with a constant switching voltage down to 10 mHz. This performance enables high-speed data transmission comparable to state-of-the-art lithium niobate modulators fabricated on quartz substrates. Using the fabricated devices, a net single lane data rate of 440.6 Gbps is achieved using PAM8 signaling.