Efficient electro-optic (EO) modulators crucially rely on advanced materials that exhibit strong electro-optic activity and that can be integrated into high-speed and efficient phase shifter structures. In this paper, we demonstrate ultra-high in-device EO figures of merit of up to $n^3{r}_{33}=2300\mathrm{pm}/\mathrm{V}$ achieved in a silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) using the EO chromophore JRD1. This is the highest material-related in-device EO figure of merit hitherto achieved in a high-speed modulator at any operating wavelength. The $\mathrm{\pi }$-voltage of the 1.5-mm-long device amounts to 210 mV, leading to a voltage-length product of $U_{\mathrm{\pi }}L=320\mathrm{V\mu m}$—the lowest value reported for MZM that are based on low-loss dielectric waveguides. The viability of the devices is demonstrated by generating high-quality on-off-keying signals at 40 Gbit/s with $Q$ factors in excess of 8 at a drive voltage as low as $140{\mathrm{mV}}_{\mathrm{pp}}$. We expect that efficient high-speed EO modulators will not only have a major impact in the field of optical communications, but will also open new avenues towards ultrafast photonic-electronic signal processing.

中文翻译：

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硅有机混合调制器中展示的超高电光活性

高效的电光（EO）调制器至关重要地依赖于具有强大电光活性并且可以集成到高速和高效移相器结构中的先进材料。在本文中，我们演示了超高的设备内EO品质因数，最高可达${ñ}^3{\mathrm{[R}}_{33}=2300\mathrm{下午}/\mathrm{伏特}$使用EO发色团JRD1在有机硅有机（SOH）Mach-Zehnder调制器（MZM）中实现。这是迄今为止在任何工作波长下的高速调制器中实现的与材料相关的器件内EO最高的品质因数。这$\mathrm{\pi }$1.5毫米长的器件的电压达210 mV，导致电压长度乘积为 ${ü}_{\mathrm{\pi }}\mathrm{大号}=320\mathrm{微米}$—报告的基于低损耗介质波导的MZM的最小值。通过以40 Gbit / s的速度生成高质量的开关键信号来证明设备的可行性$问$ 在低至低的驱动电压下，功率因数超过8 $140{\mathrm{毫伏}}_{\mathrm{pp}}$。我们希望高效的高速EO调制器不仅会对光通信领域产生重大影响，而且还将为超快光子电子信号处理开辟新的途径。