Realization of on-board and inter-chip optical interconnects requires a photonic data link with power consumption well below their electrical counterparts (i.e., <<1 pJ/bit). Currently, directly modulating 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers at >50 Gb/s requires 2–4 pJ/bit/channel. External reverse-biased modulators could drastically reduce this power consumption. Here we design ultralow power GaAs/AlGaAs multi quantum well electro-reflective modulators operating at 1 V for facile integration with polymer “optical bridges”, utilizing coupled quantum confined Stark effect between adjacent quantum wells and optical coupling to hybrid surface plasmon-slab modes for significantly enhanced extinction ratio and spectral bandwidth. Distinctive from conventional electro-optical or electro-absorption modulators, this new design synergistically leverages ultra-large changes in both refractive index (|Δn|∼0.05) and absorption coefficient (Δα∼104 cm−1), achieving 35-50 dB extinction ratio at 1 V reverse bias with a low insertion loss of 1–3 dB, an incident angle tolerance of ∼5°, and a spectral bandwidth of 7–10 nm. The modulator power consumption is ∼1.9 fJ/bit without the need of thermal tuning, and the RC-limited bandwidth well exceeds 100 GHz. This new modulator enables high bandwidth and ultralow power optical interconnect networks at >100 Gb/s/channel and <100 fJ/bit/channel compatible with ever-scaling CMOS technologies.

中文翻译：

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面向 < 100 fJ/bit 光子链路的混合等离子体多量子阱电反射调制器的设计

板载和芯片间光互连的实现需要光子数据链路，其功耗远低于其电对应物（即<<1 pJ/bit）。目前，直接以 >50 Gb/s 调制 850 nm 垂直腔面发射激光器需要 2–4 pJ/位/通道。外部反向偏置调制器可以大大降低这种功耗。在这里，我们设计了在 1 V 下运行的超低功率 GaAs/AlGaAs 多量子阱电反射调制器，以便与聚合物“光桥”轻松集成，利用相邻量子阱之间的耦合量子限制斯塔克效应和与混合表面等离子体板模式的光耦合显着提高消光比和光谱带宽。不同于传统的电光或电吸收调制器，这种新设计协同利用折射率 (|Δn|∼0.05) 和吸收系数 (Δα∼104 cm−1) 的超大变化，在 1 V 反向偏压下实现 35-50 dB 消光比，插入损耗低1–3 dB，入射角容差约为 5°，光谱带宽为 7–10 nm。无需热调谐，调制器功耗约为 1.9 fJ/bit，RC 限制带宽远远超过 100 GHz。这种新型调制器可实现 >100 Gb/s/通道和 <100 fJ/位/通道的高带宽和超低功率光互连网络，与不断扩展的 CMOS 技术兼容。入射角容差约为 5°，光谱带宽为 7-10 nm。无需热调谐，调制器功耗约为 1.9 fJ/bit，RC 限制带宽远远超过 100 GHz。这种新型调制器可实现 >100 Gb/s/通道和 <100 fJ/位/通道的高带宽和超低功率光互连网络，与不断扩展的 CMOS 技术兼容。入射角容差约为 5°，光谱带宽为 7-10 nm。无需热调谐，调制器功耗约为 1.9 fJ/bit，RC 限制带宽远远超过 100 GHz。这种新型调制器可实现 >100 Gb/s/通道和 <100 fJ/位/通道的高带宽和超低功率光互连网络，与不断扩展的 CMOS 技术兼容。