Designs of versatile compact on-chip silicon-organic hybrid modulators for different electro-optic materials

Abstract The paper presents a simulation-based design study of a compact silicon (Si)-organic hybrid electro-optic (EO) modulator that provides wavelength and bit rate tunability utilizing different EO materials. The modulator design integrates three Si-Air bilayers on each side of a 500 × 220 nm silicon waveguide, with a central EO Fabry–Perot cavity for wavelength-selective transmission exploiting the Pockels effect. Transfer-matrix calculations are used for the initial design, and COMSOL simulations are used to examine voltage-dependent resonance tuning for HLD, JRD, DLD-164 and N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (BNA). The device configuration ensures low tuning voltage requirements between 0.1 and 3 V with resonance linewidths of 0.2–2.7 nm , making it an efficient and versatile on-chip photonic component that gives a unique capability of simultaneous high-speed, low-power tunability in both wavelengths and bit rate for realizing different photonic applications. In addition to the design and performance analysis, this paper also discusses various potential applications of the proposed modulator in integrated photonic circuits.