학술논문

All-Plasmonic IQ Modulator With a 36 μm Fiber-to-Fiber Pitch
Document Type
Periodical
Source
Journal of Lightwave Technology J. Lightwave Technol. Lightwave Technology, Journal of. 37(5):1492-1497 Mar, 2019
Subject
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Photonics and Electrooptics
Plasmons
Couplers
Optical fiber couplers
Optical fiber polarization
Phase modulation
Electrooptic modulators
gratings
integrated circuits
plasmonics
Language
ISSN
0733-8724
1558-2213
Abstract
A most compact all-metallic high-speed in-phase and quadrature modulator with a 36 μ m fiber-to-fiber pitch operating at 200 Gbit/s is introduced. All components of the modulator are made of metal: The vertical crating couplers, the waveguides, polarization rotators, splitters, and phase shifters. As the modulator relies on substrate-independent processes, it can basically be put down on any smooth layer. The modulator is interconnected to a multicore fiber for optical input and output coupling. We demonstrate 100 GBd signal modulation with a quadrature phase-shift keying modulation format and a bit-error ratio below the hard-decision forward error correction. The metallic modulator shows the potential of plasmonics in offering highest speed and advanced modulations on a smallest possible footprint. The simple fabrication makes it attractive for low-cost applications such as short-haul and data-center networks.