An ultra-high-speed 325µm2 optical modulator enhanced via slow light propagation has been demonstrated. Slow light propagation is when light travels significantly slower in a modulator than it does through air or in a vacuum. Slow light propagation in a nanostructured 1D periodic waveguide, together with a high-speed semiconductor pn diode, demonstrated a highly efficient 500µm-long silicon electro-optical modulator device with modulation rate capabilities of 40Gbit/s.

Using a dual-drive modulation scheme would enable integration of the developed optical modulator with electronic BiCMOS logic circuitry.

The device, built in a CMOS-compatible process by the CEA-Leti, is the result of a collaboration between the Valencia Nanophotonics Technology Center at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) and the Silicon Photonics Group at the Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey (UK).

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