Nanophotonic Pockels modulators on a silicon nitride platform

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 3444 - 6
• Main Authors: Alexander, Koen, George, John P, Verbist, Jochem, Neyts, Kristiaan, Kuyken, Bart, Van Thourhout, Dries, Beeckman, Jeroen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 27.08.2018; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: C band; CMOS; Ferroelectric materials; Ferroelectricity; Lead; Lead zirconate titanates; Modulators; Photonics; Silicon; Silicon nitride; Wave propagation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05846-6

Silicon nitride (SiN) is emerging as a competitive platform for CMOS-compatible integrated photonics. However, active devices such as modulators are scarce and still lack in performance. Ideally, such a modulator should have a high bandwidth, good modulation efficiency, low loss, and cover a wide wavelength range. Here, we demonstrate the first electro-optic modulators based on ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films on SiN, in both the O-band and C-band. Bias-free operation, bandwidths beyond 33 GHz and data rates of 40 Gbps are shown, as well as low propagation losses (α ≈ 1 dB cm ). A half-wave voltage-length product of 3.2 V cm is measured. Simulations indicate that further improvement is possible. This approach offers a much-anticipated route towards high-performance phase modulators on SiN.