An electro-optic (EO) polymer-based integrated optic Mach-Zehnder modulator with a measured frequency response up to 20 GHz is reported. The device was J'abricated with an EO polymer supplied by Akzo Research, bv, and utilized 50 R microstrip drive electrodes. A half-wave voltage of V, = 9 V and a modulation depth of 90% were measured at 2 kHz. Modulation was observed out to 8.0 GHz using direct detection and out to 20 GHz using a frequency mixing technique, limited by the drive and receiver electronics.
We report development of the first all-polyimide system (cladding/core/cladding) suitable for fabrication of electro-optic waveguide devices on silicon substrates. The cladding layers are spun from a low optical loss, commercially available polyimide that is suitable for multilayer stacks. The electro-optic material consists of this same polyimide as host to a commercially available guest chromophore and is based upon our prior work on thermoplastic polyimides [J. F. Valley, J. W. Wu, S. Ermer, M. Stiller, E. S. Binkley, J. T. Kenney, G. F. Lipscomb, and R. Lytel, Appl. Phys. Lett. 60, 160 (1992)]. We present the materials and process development methodology with the results for this polymer system and demonstrate it by fabrication of an all-polyimide Mach–Zehnder modulator operating at 830 nm.
The selection process leading to the development of a guest±host electro-optic material based on an amorphous polycarbonate (APC) is described. The optical loss at 1300 nm of this material system is under 2 dB/cm, which is the confidence limit of the slab measurement used. A Mach±Zehnder modulator fabricated using the push±pull poling technique has a low switching voltage (V p ) of 1.2 V.
The selection process leading to the development of a guest±host electro-optic material based on an amorphous polycarbonate (APC) is described. The optical loss at 1300 nm of this material system is under 2 dB/cm, which is the confidence limit of the slab measurement used. A Mach±Zehnder modulator fabricated using the push±pull poling technique has a low switching voltage (V p ) of 1.2 V.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.