Visible light modulator for high-speed optical communication and optical computing

A visible light modulator, comprising:

• a modulator substrate;
• a thin-film optical waveguide structure disposed over the modulator substrate, wherein the thin-film optical waveguide structure comprises an electro-optic material and a set of coplanar radio frequency (RF) electrodes electro-optically coupled to a set of thin-film optical waveguides to modulate a set of optical signals using RF signals, thereby generating a set of modulated optical signals, respectively, wherein the RF electrodes are configured as coplanar waveguides having a signal-ground-signal (SGS) or ground-signal-ground (GSG) configuration, wherein each coplanar RF electrode comprises a periodic loaded slot-line structure or T-shaped slot feature to enhance RF-to-optical coupling efficiency;
• a buried waveguide layer disposed below the thin-film optical waveguide structure, wherein the buried waveguide layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of silicon nitride, silicon, silicon dioxide, or optical polymers;
• at least one optical coupler configured to transfer light from the buried waveguide layer to the thin-film optical waveguide structure;
• and
• a set of output optical waveguides configured to receive the modulated optical signals.

A visible light modulator, comprising:

• a modulator substrate;
• a thin-film optical waveguide structure disposed over the modulator substrate, wherein the thin-film optical waveguide structure includes a set of coplanar radio frequency (RF) electrodes electro-optically coupled to a set of thin-film optical waveguides to modulate a set of optical signals propagating via the set of thin-film optical waveguides with a set of RF signals propagating via the set of coplanar RF electrodes to generate a set of modulated optical signals, respectively;
• an input optical waveguide disposed over the modulator substrate, the input optical waveguide configured to receive an optical signal;
• an optical distribution device disposed over the modulator substrate, the optical distribution device configured to split the optical signal into the set of optical signals;
• a set of output optical waveguides disposed over the modulator substrate, the set of output optical waveguides configured to direct the set of modulated optical signals to a set of outputs, respectively;
• and
• a set of optoelectronic detectors disposed over the modulator substrate, the set of optoelectronic detectors configured to generate signals for evaluating the set of modulated optical signals, respectively.

A visible light modulator, comprising:

• a modulator substrate;
• a thin-film optical waveguide structure disposed over the modulator substrate, wherein the thin-film optical waveguide structure includes a set of coplanar radio frequency (RF) electrodes electro-optically coupled to a set of thin-film optical waveguides to modulate a set of optical signals propagating via the set of thin-film optical waveguides with a set of RF signals propagating via the set of coplanar RF electrodes to generate a set of modulated optical signals, respectively;
• an input optical waveguide disposed over the modulator substrate, the input optical waveguide configured to receive an optical signal;
• an optical distribution device disposed over the modulator substrate, the optical distribution device configured to split the optical signal into the set of optical signals, wherein the optical distribution device comprises an arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexer;
• and
• a set of output optical waveguides disposed over the modulator substrate, the set of output optical waveguides configured to direct the set of modulated optical signals to a set of outputs, respectively.