Low-chirp high-extinction-ratio modulator based on graphene-silicon waveguide.

We present a hybrid graphene-silicon waveguide, which consists of a lateral slot waveguide with three layers of graphene flakes inside. Through a theoretical analysis, an effective index variation for about 0.05 is found in the waveguide by applying a voltage on the graphene. We designed a Mach-Zehnder modulator based on this waveguide and demonstrated it can process signals nearly chirp-free. The calculation shows that the driving voltage is only 1 V even if the length of the arm is shortened to be 43.54 μm. An extinction up to 34.7 dB and a minimum chirp parameter of -0.006 are obtained. Its insertion loss is roughly -1.37 dB. This modulator consumes low power and has a small footprint. It can potentially be ultrafast as well as CMOS compatible.

[1]  H. Chu,et al.  Highly sensitive graphene biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance. , 2010, Optics express.

[2]  F. Xia,et al.  Tunable infrared plasmonic devices using graphene/insulator stacks. , 2012, Nature nanotechnology.

[3]  Dresselhaus,et al.  Electron-phonon coupling and the electrical conductivity of fullerene nanotubules. , 1993, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[4]  F. Xia,et al.  Ultrafast graphene photodetector , 2009, CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[5]  P L Gould,et al.  Characterization and compensation of the residual chirp in a Mach-Zehnder-type electro-optical intensity modulator. , 2009, Optics express.

[6]  Wangshi Zhao,et al.  Nanoscale electro-optic modulators based on graphene-slot waveguides , 2012 .

[7]  Jianyi Yang,et al.  Chirp Characteristics of Silicon Mach–Zehnder Modulator Under Small-Signal Modulation , 2011, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[8]  Nader Engheta,et al.  Transformation Optics Using Graphene , 2011, Science.

[9]  Xiang Zhang,et al.  A graphene-based broadband optical modulator , 2011, Nature.

[10]  D. Van Thourhout,et al.  Ultracompact Phase Modulator Based on a Cascade of NEMS-Operated Slot Waveguides Fabricated in Silicon-on-Insulator , 2012, IEEE Photonics Journal.

[11]  Zhenhua Ni,et al.  Broadband graphene polarizer , 2011 .

[12]  Andre K. Geim,et al.  Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films , 2004, Science.

[13]  A. T. Johnson,et al.  Controlled doping of graphene using ultraviolet irradiation , 2012 .

[14]  Sukosin Thongrattanasiri,et al.  Complete optical absorption in periodically patterned graphene. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[15]  Longzhi Yang,et al.  Characteristics of electro-refractive modulating based on Graphene-Oxide-Silicon waveguide. , 2012, Optics express.

[16]  P. Klang,et al.  Microcavity-Integrated Graphene Photodetector , 2011, Nano letters.

[17]  G. Hanson.  Dyadic Green's functions and guided surface waves for a surface conductivity model of graphene , 2007, cond-mat/0701205.

[18]  Xiang Zhang,et al.  Double-layer graphene optical modulator. , 2012, Nano letters.

[19]  Sung‐Yool Choi,et al.  Graphene-based plasmonic waveguides for photonic integrated circuits. , 2011, Optics express.

[20]  F. Diederich,et al.  All-optical high-speed signal processing with silicon–organic hybrid slot waveguides , 2009 .

[21]  Bin Yu,et al.  Ultralow-voltage design of graphene PN junction quantum reflective switch transistor , 2011 .

[22]  K. Loh,et al.  Graphene photonics, plasmonics, and broadband optoelectronic devices. , 2012, ACS nano.

[23]  A. N. Grigorenko,et al.  Graphene plasmonics , 2012, Nature Photonics.

[24]  F. Xia,et al.  Graphene photodetectors for high-speed optical communications , 2010, 1009.4465.

[25]  S. Mikhailov,et al.  New electromagnetic mode in graphene. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[26]  Li Li,et al.  Demonstration of low power penalty of silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator in long-haul transmission. , 2012, Optics express.

[27]  Young L. Kim,et al.  Graphene-on-silver Substrates for Sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging Biosensors References and Links , 2022 .