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Silicon microring-based signal modulation for chip-scale optical interconnection

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Abstract

Electro-optic modulation plays a critical role in implementing space-, power- and spectrally efficient optical interconnection for high-capacity computing systems. Microring resonators exhibit a great potential to achieve compact, low power-consumption and high-speed modulators. In this paper, we briefly review our efforts on designing and analyzing the microring modulators. Three types of single-ring modulators are discussed, from device behavior to possible system impact. We then present two novel double-ring modulators in which a passive ring resonator is added, enabling higher operation speed and lower power consumption. We also describe an opportunity of introducing phase modulation data formats into the on-chip communication environment. In this paper, our emphasis is placed on linking the devices’ physics to their system performance and providing potential technical solutions to physical-layer challenges of optical interconnection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, University Park, CA, 90089, USA

    Lin Zhang, Yunchu Li, Jeng-Yuan Yang & Alan E. Willner

  2. Department of Information and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China

    Muping Song

  3. HP Labs, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA

    Raymond G. Beausoleil

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  1. Lin Zhang
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  2. Yunchu Li
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Correspondence to Lin Zhang.

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Zhang, L., Li, Y., Song, M. et al. Silicon microring-based signal modulation for chip-scale optical interconnection. Appl. Phys. A 95, 1089–1100 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-009-5119-0

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