Integrated O- and C-band silicon-lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulators with 100 GHz bandwidth, low voltage, and low loss

Abstract

Broadband integrated thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulators (EOM) are desirable for optical communications and signal processing in both the O-band (1310 nm) and C-band (1550 nm). To address these needs, we design and demonstrate Mach-Zehnder (MZ) EOM devices in a hybrid platform based on TFLN bonded to foundry-fabricated silicon photonic waveguides. Using a single silicon lithography step and a single bonding step, we realize MZ EOM devices which cover both wavelength ranges on the same chip. The EOM devices achieve 100 GHz EO bandwidth (referenced to 1 GHz) and about 2-3 V.cm figure-of-merit ( V π L ) with low on-chip optical loss in both the O-band and C-band.