Monolithically Integrated Quantum Dot Electro-Optic Modulator with Semiconductor Optical Amplifier for Short-Reach Optical Communications

Abstract

A monolithically integrated quantum dot (QD) electro-optic modulator (EOM) with a QD semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) was successfully developed with a broadband QD optical gain material for Gbps-order high-speed optical data transmission. An optical gain change as high as approximately 6-7 dB can be obtained with a low EOM voltage of 2.0 V. An insertion loss was also compensated through the SOA section. Additionally, it was confirmed that the QD-EOM/SOA device helped achieve 6.0-Gb/s error-free optical data transmission over a 2.0-km photonic crystal fiber. These results suggest that the developed QD-EOM/SOA will become attractive for short-reach communications.