An ultra-compact (6 μm length) electro-absorber modulator with transverse magnetic (TM) to transverse-electric (TE) conversion is proposed. The device performance is controlled by means of the semiconductor-to-metal transition of the vanadium dioxide. For the insulating state, the device performs as a TM–TE converter with insertion losses of 0.3 dB and extinction ratio of 36 dB at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. Changing to the metallic state, the TE generated component is attenuated due to the increase of losses in the VO2 and the mode mismatch. This electro-absorber modulator shows a broadband operation with an extinction ratio higher than 10 dB and insertion losses below 0.5 dB for a range of 60 nm covering the whole C-band.
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