A Compact Low-Power 320-Gb/s WDM Transmitter Based on Silicon Microrings

We demonstrate a compact and low-power wavelength-division multiplexing transmitter near a 1550-nm wavelength using silicon microrings. The transmitter is implemented on a silicon-on-insulator photonics platform with a compact footprint of 0.5 mm 2 . The transmitter incorporates 8 wavelength channel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE photonics journal Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 1 - 8
Main Authors Ran Ding, Yang Liu, Qi Li, Zhe Xuan, Yangjin Ma, Yisu Yang, Lim, Andy Eu-Jin, Guo-Qiang Lo, Bergman, Keren, Baehr-Jones, Tom, Hochberg, Michael
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Piscataway IEEE 01.06.2014
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects
Integrated optics devices
integrated optoelectronic circuits
Junctions
Modulation
modulators
Optical transmitters
Optical waveguides
Silicon
Tuning
Wavelength division multiplexing
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Summary:We demonstrate a compact and low-power wavelength-division multiplexing transmitter near a 1550-nm wavelength using silicon microrings. The transmitter is implemented on a silicon-on-insulator photonics platform with a compact footprint of 0.5 mm 2 . The transmitter incorporates 8 wavelength channels with 200-GHz spacing. Each channel achieved error-free operation at 40 Gb/s, resulting in an aggregated data transmission capability of 320 Gb/s. To our knowledge, this is the highest aggregated data rate demonstrated in silicon wavelength-division multiplexing transmitters. Owing to the small device capacitance and the efficient pn-junction modulator design, the transmitter achieves low energy-per-bit values of 36 fJ/bit under 2.4 Vpp drive and 144 fJ/bit under 4.8 Vpp drive. Comparisons are made to a commercial lithium niobate modulator in terms of bit-error-rate versus optical signal-to-noise ratio.
ISSN:1943-0655
1943-0647
DOI:10.1109/JPHOT.2014.2326656