Design of electro-absorption optical modulator incorporated with waveguide MQW AlGaSb / GaSb and symmetrical Fabry-Perrot grating cavity structure for fiber-optics communication system

Abstract

Electro-absorption optical modulator based on waveguide structure incorporated with MQW AlGaSb/GaSb and symmetrical Fabry-Perrot (FP) grating cavity structure has been designed for fiber-optics 1.55 mum communication systems. Different to the transversal modulator structure, where the Fabry-Perrot cavity is in the form of thin film layer Bragg Reflector, the modulator with waveguide structure is incorporating symmetrical Fabry-Perrot cavity with grating mirror. The advantage of waveguide modulator in comparison to the transverse structure one is the improvement on the on/off ratio and further being able easily to be integrated with semiconductor laser source and semiconductor amplifier, which are grown on top of the same GaSb substrate. This paper contributes in the development of electro-absorption waveguide modulator design software.