20 GHz electro-optic polymer Mach–Zehnder modulator

Abstract

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 fabricated with an EO polymer supplied by Akzo Research, bv, and utilized 50 Ω microstrip drive electrodes. A half-wave voltage of Vπ=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.