Data transmission at 1.3 um using silicon spatial light modulator

We demonstrate and characterize a silicon Fabry-Perot spatial light modulator in a fiber optic data transmission system at 1.3 micron wavelength. The device utilizes free carrier effects in silicon to achieve phase modulation, and a built-in Fabry-Perot cavity to convert the phase modulation into intensity modulation. The measured insertion loss is 3.5 dB, the modulation depth is 10 percent, and the bandwidth is 40 MHz.

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