Electroabsorption optical modulator

    公开(公告)号:US10908438B1

    公开(公告)日:2021-02-02

    申请号:US15909767

    申请日:2018-03-01

    IPC分类号: G02F1/025 G02F1/00 G02F1/015

    摘要: An electroabsorption modulator that operates based on electroabsorption of a surface plasmon polariton mode is improved by various structural changes and/or selection of different materials. For example, at least a portion of the waveguide may be made to be conductive, e.g., by doping. Also, layers that make up the modulator structure may be placed along sides of waveguides in addition to or instead of simply on the top thereof. High permittivity gate dielectric materials may be employed. Also, materials other than ITO may be employed as a transparent conductor. Such an improved plasmonic electroabsorption modulator can be fabricated using standard semiconductor processing techniques and may be integrated with standard photonic integrated circuits, including silicon photonics and compound semiconductor-based platforms. Advantageously, high-speed, low-voltage operation over a wide spectrum of wavelengths may be achieved.