Chapter 7
EXTERNAL ELECTRO-OPTIC
MODULATORS
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Fig. 7.0.1. Examples of commercial EO modulator based on LiNbO3 (A), and EA modulator integrated with a laser source (B).
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Fig. 7.1.1. Crystal and applied field orientation of a free-space longitudinal EO modulator made with LiNbO3 EO material. The applied
electric field is in the same direction of the wave propagation.
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Fig. 7.1.2. Crystal and applied field orientation of a free-space transverse EO modulator made with LiNbO3 EO material. The applied
electric field is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.
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Fig. 7.1.3. Illustration of cross sections of z-cut (A) and x-cut (B) LiNbO3 waveguides and the corresponding orientations of crystal axes.
Optical signal propagates in the crystal’s y-direction along the waveguide. The indices of orientation 1, 2, and 3 correspond to x, y, and z,
respectively.
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Fig. 7.1.4. Refractive indices of LiNbO3 as the function of wavelength along the directions of the o- and the e-axes of the crystal.
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Fig. 7.1.5. Electro-optic phase modulator.
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Fig. 7.1.6. Electro-optic modulator based on MZI configuration.
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Fig. 7.1.7. Electro-optic modulator transfer function and input (electrical)/output (optical) waveforms.
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Fig. 7.1.8. Dual-drive EO modulator based on an MZI configuration.
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Fig. 7.1.9. Electro-optic modulator power transfer function and field transfer function.
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Fig. 7.1.10. Absolute values of Bessel functions J2(2β), J4(2β), and J6(2β).
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Fig. 7.2.1. Optical single-sideband modulation using a dual-electrode MZI electro-optic modulator.
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Fig. 7.2.2. Example of calculated power spectral density of modulated optical signal. (A) Double-sideband modulation, (B) single-
sideband modulation with upper sideband suppressed, and (C) single-sideband modulation with lower sideband suppressed. ω0 is the
optical frequency, Ω is the modulation frequency, and modulation index is β=0.1.
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Fig. 7.3.1. (A) Configuration of an electro-optic I-Q modulator based on the combination of three MZIs, (B) normalized constellation
diagram of complex modulated QPSK optical signal.
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Fig. 7.3.2. Illustration of a modulated optical spectrum with carrier suppression and independent information channels carried by the
upper and the lower modulation sidebands.
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Fig. 7.4.1. (A) configuration of a waveguide ring modulator made on the SOI platform, (B) cross section of the waveguide, and
(C) coupling between the straight waveguide and the ring resonator.
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Fig. 7.4.2. Power transfer function of a micro-ring resonator near a resonance wavelength. EO modulation changes both the refractive
index and the loss of the ring so that the resonance wavelength can be shifted and the peak absorption is also reduced. Solid line: ideal
transfer function without carrier injection, dashed line: resonance wavelength is shifted by a linewidth δλ, and dotted line: resonance
wavelength is shifted by a 4δλ. λ0 is the optical signal wavelength.
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Fig. 7.4.3. Power transfer function of a micro-ring resonator near a resonance wavelength λ0=1543.87nm without (solid line) and with
carrier injection (dashed line).
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Fig. 7.4.4. Modulation of a light source with multiple wavelength channels by the cascade of multiple ring modulators (A) and by
conventional Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) (B).
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Fig. 7.4.5. Optical signal transmission loss through the ring modulator as the function of normalized injection carrier density.
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Fig. 7.4.6. (A) normalized carrier density as the function of the normalized time during injection current turn-on transition, (B) signal
transmission loss as the function of normalized time for different NB levels.
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Fig. 7.5.1. EA modulator integrated with a DFB laser source.
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Fig. 7.5.2. Phase and absorption coefficients of an EA modulator (Cartledge, 1998).
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Fig. 7.5.3. Illustration of an intensity modulator (top view) based on an MZI configuration with one of the two arms made by an EAM.
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Fig. 7.5.4. Attenuation parameter Δα in [Neper/mm] and phase parameter Δβ in [rad/mm] extracted from Fig. 7.5.2.
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Fig. 7.5.5. Power transfer function (A) and phase transfer function (B) of EAM in a MZI configuration with Φph=ΦEA0. Dashed line in (A)
shows the power transfer function of EAM along.
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Fig. 7.5.6. Power transfer function (A) and phase transfer function (B) of EAM in an MZI configuration with Φph=0 (solid line), ±π/10
(dashed line), ±π/5 (dotted line), and ±π/3 (dash-dotted line).
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Fig. 7.5.7. Chirp parameter as the function of the applied voltage
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