Ultrahigh-speed compound semiconductor mode-converters

JGKB Photonics Inc. and the University of British Columbia present recent results for an alternative type of electro- optic modulator, the integrated-optic mode-converter [1]. The integrated-optic mode-converter has the potential to bring the drive-voltage of electro-optic modulators down to the 3 to 4 V range while preserving the benefits typically associated with LiNbO3-based integrated-optic Mach-Zehnders, e.g., low insertion loss and low chirp, and while being fabricated in compound semiconductors such as GaAs or possibly InP (i.e., these devices are based on mature, stable semiconductor technologies). Such devices are shown to operate at ultrahigh-speed, having electro- optic bandwidths in excess of 40 GHz.