Abstract
Silicon slot waveguide based Mach–Zehnder interferometric modulators with
electrooptic polymers in the slot have the advantage of low half-wave voltage-length
product (V<sub>π</sub>*L). Several key aspects of this unconventional electrooptic polymer
modulator design to optimize the modulator performance are studied in this work. Both
computer simulation and experiments have been conducted to understand the relationship
between modulator performance such as modulation efficiency, optical loss and the
waveguide design parameters. Techniques to achieve efficient poling of electrooptic
polymers in the silicon slot waveguide have been developed. The doping of the silicon to
enhance conductivity for efficient poling and the trade-off between conductivity and
optical loss are experimentally investigated. Surface passivation of silicon
nanophotonic structures has been found to be effective in improving poling efficiency.
By applying these techniques to a silicon slot waveguide Mach–Zehnder modulator, a low
V<sub>π</sub>*L of 0.52 V·cm has been achieved. Finally travelling wave electrode
designs have been evaluated and the results show that the bandwidth is mainly limited by
the attenuation of the radio frequency signal in the electrode and a standard coplanar
waveguide electrode design is able to reach 20 GHz in modulators of silicon slot
waveguide embedded in electrooptic polymer.
© 2011 IEEE
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