Issue 47, 2015

A highly efficient thermo-optic microring modulator assisted by graphene

Abstract

Graphene's remarkable electrical and optical properties afford great potential for constructing various optoelectronic devices, including modulators, photodetectors and pulse lasers. In particular, graphene-based optical modulators were demonstrated to be featured with a broadband response, small footprint, ultrafast speed and CMOS-compatibility, which may provide an alternative architecture for light-modulation in integrated photonic circuits. While on-chip graphene modulators have been studied in various structures, most of them are based on a capacitance-like configuration subjected to complicated fabrication processes and providing a low yield of working devices. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a new type of graphene modulator by employing graphene's electrical and thermal properties, which can be achieved with a simple fabrication flow. On a graphene-coated microring resonator with a small active area of 10 μm2, we have obtained an effective optical modulation via thermal energy electrically generated in a graphene layer. The resonant wavelength of the ring resonator shifts by 2.9 nm under an electrical power of 28 mW, which enables a large modulation depth of 7 dB and a broad operating wavelength range of 6.2 nm with 3 dB modulation. Due to the extremely high electrical and thermal conductivity in graphene, the graphene thermo-optical modulator operates at a very fast switching rate compared with the conventional silicon thermo-optic modulator, i.e. 10%–90% rise (90%–10% fall) time of 750 ns (800 ns). The results promise a novel architecture for massive on-chip modulation of optical interconnects compatible with CMOS technology.

Graphical abstract: A highly efficient thermo-optic microring modulator assisted by graphene

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jul 2015
Accepted
22 Oct 2015
First published
26 Oct 2015

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 20249-20255

Author version available

A highly efficient thermo-optic microring modulator assisted by graphene

S. Gan, C. Cheng, Y. Zhan, B. Huang, X. Gan, S. Li, S. Lin, X. Li, J. Zhao, H. Chen and Q. Bao, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 20249 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR05084G

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