Segmented Mach-Zehnder Modulator for High-level PAM Generation

Abstract

In this paper, a simulation link is established with proposed electric-optical modulator models. Optical modulation amplitude (OMA) and bit error rate (BER) of these modulators are studied in combination with a simulation link with a transmission rate of 60 Gbps. In the simulation, the total lengths of a single arm of these modulators is 3750 um, and the peak-to-peak voltage (VPP) of each input electrical signal is controlled at 2 V, and the input optical power of the laser is set at 20 mW. The results show that with the increasing level of pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), the higher BER appears while OMA is insensitive to the change of level of pulse amplitude modulation. And when PAM-16 is implemented, relatively clear eye diagram is still obtained. It proves that the application prospect of this modulator is in higher level pulse amplitude modulation, such as PAM-8 and PAM-16. Therefore, SEMZM is a good choice for high speed data transmission.