High RF carrier frequency modulation in silicon resonators by coupling adjacent free-spectral-range modes

Abstract

We demonstrate the modulation of silicon ring resonators at RF carrier frequencies higher than the resonance linewidth by coupling adjacent free-spectral-range (FSR) resonance modes. In this modulator scheme, the modulation frequency is matched to the FSR frequency. As an example, we demonstrate a 20 GHz modulation in a silicon ring with a resonance linewidth of only 11.7 GHz. We show theoretically that this modulator scheme has lower power consumption compared to a standard silicon ring modulator at high carrier frequencies. These results could enable future on-chip high-frequency analog communication and photonic signal processing on a silicon photonics platform.