Team member: Saman Saeedi (In collaboration with CHIC group)

Compact, low-power, and high-speed electro-optic modulators (EOM) are one of the key components for optical interconnects. Resonant structures such as micro-ring modulators are promising candidates due to their compact size and low power consumption. It is desirable to have high-Q rings since for a given extinction ratio a higher Q results in better energy efficiency. However, there is a trade-off between the Q of the ring resonator modulator and its optical bandwidth. In this project, we propose a new structure that breaks the optical bandwidth/quality factor trade-off known to limit the speed of high-Q micro-ring modulators. This structure, called the “differential ring modulator”, maintains a constant energy in the ring to avoid pattern-dependent power droop.

Related Publications

S. Saeedi, B. Abiri, A. Hajimiri, A. Emami, “Differential Optical Ring Modulator: Breaking the Bandwidth/Quality-factor Trade-off“, 41st European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) , IEEE, 2015, DOI: 10.1109/ECOC.2015.7341731

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