12.5-Gb/s operation with 0.29-V.cm VπL using silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator based-on forward-biased pin diode

We present high-speed operation of pin-diode-based silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators that have side-wall gratings on both sides of the waveguide core. The use of pre-emphasis signals generated with a finite impulse response digital filter was examined in the frequency domain to show how the filter works for different filter parameter sets. In large signal modulation experiments, V pi L as low as 0.29 V.cm was obtained at 12.5 Gb/s using a fabricated modulator and the pre-emphasis technique. Operation of up to 25-Gb/s is possible using basically the same driving configurations. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America