Hybrid photonic ring modulators
AssigneeJuniper Networks, Inc.
InventorsJohn Parker, Jonathan Edgar Roth, Gregory Alan Fish
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Photonic ring modulators with high tuning efficiency and small footprint can be formed in a hybrid material platform from a silicon bus waveguide vertically coupled to an optically active compound semiconductor (e.g., III-V) ring resonator. The performance of the modulator, e.g., in terms of the tuning efficiency and the maximum insertion loss, may be optimized by suitable levels of an applied bias voltage and a heater power of a heater optionally included in the ring modulator. The disclosed hybrid photonic ring modulators may be used, e.g., in photonic transceiver circuits with high lane count.
Claims20
A hybrid photonic ring modulator comprising:
- a silicon bus waveguide formed in a silicon device layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate;
- and
- a ring resonator structure formed above the silicon device layer, the ring resonator structure comprising a p-i-n diode structure of semiconductor compound material and associated electrodes, an active region of the p-i-n diode structure forming a ring waveguide laterally overlapping with the bus waveguide, the ring waveguide and the silicon bus waveguide together forming a vertical directional coupler in an overlap region.
A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising:
- a laser;
- and
- a hybrid photonic ring modulator comprising a silicon bus waveguide vertically coupled to a ring-shaped active region of a p-i-n diode structure formed of compound semiconductor material, an optical input of the silicon bus waveguide coupled to an output of the laser, and an optical output of the silicon bus waveguide coupled to an output port of the PIC.
A method of modulating light guided in a silicon waveguide, the method comprising:
- vertically coupling the light from the silicon waveguide into an optically active ring waveguide of a compound semiconductor p-i-n diode structure formed above the silicon waveguide;
- and
- applying a swing voltage across the p-i-n diode structure to thereby modulate a refractive index in the ring waveguide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.