Silicon-integrated optical modulators: surpassing the limitations of plasma-dispersion effect
Silicon (Si) photonics stands as a solid candidate to address the scaling challenges of emerging communication systems with an ever-growing number of interconnected devices. However, Si has major physical limitations that prevent on-chip integration of key functions including strong two-photon absorption limiting nonlinear optical phenomenon, an indirect bandgap nature hindering light emission and amplification and more specifically Si is a centrosymmetry semiconductor preventing ultra-fast and low power consumption optical modulation based on Pockels effect. The latter limitation strongly limits the evolution of the Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC). In this paper, an overview of the different approaches for light modulation in silicon will be presented including the plasma-dispersion effect, currently used in PIC and the Pockels based modulators integrated in Si circuits.
Authors
- Delphine Marris‐Morini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1324-5029)
- Thomas Maroutian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5535-391X)
- Ali Belarouci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9818-5976)
- David J. Thomson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1838-2663)
- Léopold Virot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6005-6933)
- Daniele Melati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3427-0186)
- Éric Cassan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2802-7689)
- Guy Aubin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5118-7563)
- Ausrine Bartasyte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8862-2669)
- Sylvia Matzen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4244-6516)
- Philippe Lecoeur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4511-914X)
- Yohan Désières (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7255-2208)
- Laurent Vivien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2980-7225)
- Eirini Parmenopoulou
- Christian Lafforgue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2027-9168)
- Graham T. Reed (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5314-6604)
- Ali El Boutaybi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6531-0902)
- Jonathan Peltier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9437-1934)
- Callum G. Littlejohns (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7101-0447)
- Karim Hassan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5518-8229)
- Clément Ben Braham
- Weiwei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1086-5775)
- Samson Edmond
- R. Orobtchouk
- Carlos Alonso-Ramos
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon (FR)
- Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (FR)
- CEA Grenoble (FR)
- Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (FR)
- Clinatec (FR)
- Direction de la Recherche Technologique (FR)
- Laboratoire d'Électronique des Technologies de l'Information (FR)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-03-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3046940
- Primary Topic
- Photonic and Optical Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00