High-frequency (fRF>1 GHz) acousto-optic modulation using a doubly resonant cavity in a MEMS foundry platform

Abstract

Acousto-Optic Modulators (AOM) have been used for a wide variety of signal processing application. Traditionally, they are built with bulk materials (e.g. crystal quartz, tellurium dioxide, and fused silica), which limit their operational frequency to below 300MHz. In addition, the absence of a CMOS foundry-compatible process has prevented the scalable integration, mass production, and design complexity achieved by integrated photonic devices. An effcient high-frequency AOM can be the building block for different applications, such as a high-speed spatial light modulator with tens of MHz bandwidth, or a viable free space optical interconnect link between processors and memory that meets the stringent energy and bandwidth constraints. We report the operation of an AOM with operation frequency between 300 MHz and 3.5 GHz realized by MEMS foundry (Piezo-MUMPS) platform. Preliminary results on the detection of weak RF signal is reported.