High-Speed, Low Drive-Voltage Silicon-Organic Hybrid Modulator Based on a Binary-Chromophore Electro-Optic Material

Abstract

We report on the hybrid integration of silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides with organic electro-optic materials. We investigate and compare a polymer composite, a dendron-based material, and a binary-chromophore organic glass (BCOG). A record-high in-device electro-optic coefficient of 230 pm/V is found for the BCOG approach resulting in silicon-organic hybrid Mach-Zehnder modulators that feature low U <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">π</sub> L-products of down to 0.52 Vmm and support data rates of up to 40 Gbit/s.