Demonstration of a Push-Pull Silicon Dual-Ring Modulator With Enhanced Optical Modulation Amplitude

Abstract

In this article, we demonstrate a push-pull silicon dual-ring modulator based on two cascaded rings which are coupled with each other through two parallel bus waveguides. In the transmission spectrum of the modulator, a narrow transparency peak exists in the center of the broad dip based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like effect. Benefiting from both the EIT-like effect and push-pull drive configuration, a low insertion loss (IL) of 1.4 dB and an extinction ratio (ER) over 6.4 dB are obtained at a bit rate of 10 Gb/s with a peak-to-peak driving voltage (Vpp) of 5 V. The corresponding maximum optical modulation amplitude (OMA) is 0.56, which is almost twice that of a single micro-ring modulator with the same driving voltage. Moreover, the maximum OMA is 0.47 at 20 Gb/s, which is 81% larger than that of a single micro-ring modulator.