Low Vpp, ultralow-energy, compact, high-speed silicon electro-optic modulator

We present a high-speed silicon optical modulator with a low V-pp (peak-to-peak driving voltage) and ultralow energy consumption based on a microring resonator, with the refractive index modulation achieved by electric-field-induced carrier depletion in a reverse-biased lateral pn diode embedded in the ring structure. With a V-pp of 2 V, we demonstrate a silicon modulator with a 3 dB bandwidth of 11 GHz, a modulation depth of 6.5 dB together with an insertion loss of 2 dB, ultralow energy consumption of 50 fJ per bit, and a small device active area of similar to 1000 mu m(2). (C) 2009 Optical Society of America