Low-loss edge-coupling thin-film lithium niobate modulator with an efficient phase shifter

Thin-film lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) is a very attractive platform for optical interconnect and nonlinear optics. It is essential to enable lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits with low power consumption. Here we present an edge-couplingMach-Zehnder modulator on the platform with low fiber-chip coupling loss of 0.5 dB/facet, half-wave voltage V-pi of 2.36 V, electro-optic (EO) bandwidth of 60 GHz and an efficient thermal-optic phase shifter with half-wave power of 6.24 mW. In addition, we experimentally demonstrate single-lane 200 Gbit/s data transmission utilizing a discrete multi-tone signal. The LNOI modulator demonstrated here shows great potential in energy-efficient large-capacity optical interconnects. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America

Automated summary

A thin-film lithium-niobate-on-insulator platform has been demonstrated for optical interconnect and nonlinear optics applications, showing potential for energy-efficient large-capacity optical interconnects. The edge-coupling Mach-Zehnder modulator on this platform exhibits low fiber-chip coupling loss, high EO bandwidth, and efficient thermal-optic phase shifter, enabling single-lane 200 Gbit/s data transmission.