Low driving voltage Mach-Zehnder interference modulator constructed from an electro-optic polymer on ultra-thin silicon with a broadband operation

An electro-optic (EO) polymer waveguide using an ultra-thin silicon hybrid has been designed and fabricated. The silicon core has the thickness of 50 nm and a width of 5 μm. The waveguide was completed after covering the cladding with the high temperature stable EO polymer. We have demonstrated a low half-wavelength voltage of 0.9 V at the wavelength of 1.55 μm by using a Mach-Zehnder interference modulator with TM mode operation. The measured modulation corresponded to an effective in-device EO coefficient of 165 pm/V. By utilizing the traveling-wave electrode on the modulator the high-frequency response was tested up to 40 GHz. The 3 dB modulation bandwidth was measured to be 23 GHz. In addition, the high frequency sideband spectral measurement revealed that a linear response of the modulation index against the RF power was confirmed up to 40 GHz signal.