By exploiting the electro-absorption characteristic of graphene, we proposed and theoretically demonstrated an electro-absorption optical modulator (EOM) based on the graphene-buried polymer waveguides. By burying the graphene layers inside the polymer waveguide, acquiring a strong graphene-light interaction when the graphene layers buried in the center of core, which bring about an important change of the optical mode and effective mode index in the waveguide. The width of the graphene capacitor was also optimized to enhance the bandwidth of the device. Calculations show that the proposed EOM can realize 29 dB extinction ratio, 7 dB modulation depth and 42 GHz bandwidth with an 800 μm-long active region. The required switching voltage form its minimum to maximum absorption state is 1.6 V and 1.55 pJ/bit energy consumption can be achieved. The proposed modulator can remedy the lack of high-speed optical modulator on the passive polymer waveguide and have a potential application for polymer-based photonic integrated circuits.

中文翻译：

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基于石墨烯埋聚合物波导的电吸收光调制器

通过利用石墨烯的电吸收特性，我们提出并理论上证明了一种基于石墨烯埋聚合物波导的电吸收光调制器（EOM）。通过将石墨烯层埋入聚合物波导内部，当石墨烯层埋入纤芯中心时获得强烈的石墨烯-光相互作用，从而导致波导中的光模和有效模指数发生重要变化。石墨烯电容器的宽度也进行了优化，以提高器件的带宽。计算表明，所提出的 EOM 可以实现 29 dB 的消光比、7 dB 的调制深度和 42 GHz 的带宽，以及 800 μm 长的有源区。从其最小吸收状态到最大吸收状态所需的开关电压为 1.6 V，可以实现 1.55 pJ/位的能耗。