title: An ultralow power athermal silicon modulator.
abstract: Silicon photonics has emerged as the leading candidate for implementing ultralow power wavelength-division-multiplexed communication networks in high-performance computers, yet current components (lasers, modulators, filters and detectors) consume too much power for the high-speed femtojoule-class links that ultimately will be required. Here we demonstrate and characterize the first modulator to achieve simultaneous high-speed (25 Gb s(-1)), low-voltage (0.5 VPP) and efficient 0.9 fJ per bit error-free operation. This low-energy high-speed operation is enabled by a record electro-optic response, obtained in a vertical p-n junction device that at 250 pm V(-1) (30 GHz V(-1)) is up to 10 times larger than prior demonstrations. In addition, this record electro-optic response is used to compensate for thermal drift over a 7.5 °C temperature range with little additional energy consumption (0.24 fJ per bit for a total energy consumption below 1.03 J per bit). The combined results of highly efficient modulation and electro-optic thermal compensation represent a new paradigm in modulator development and a major step towards single-digit femtojoule-class communications.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Erman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Timurdogan
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Cheryl M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sorace-Agaskar
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shah Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Aleksandr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biberman
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Watts