320 Gbps co-planar stripline Mach-Zehnder modulator on a generic indium phosphide integrated photonics platform.

Abstract

We present the design and characterization of co-planar stripline Mach-Zehnder modulators on an InP platform. The co-planar design exhibited 50 Ω impedance with velocity-matched optical and electrical signals. We investigated devices with a range of design parameters to identify optimal configurations for high bandwidths (≈80 GHz) and state-of-the-art data transmission rates (320 Gbit/s). An equivalent circuit model that enables fast and holistic design space exploration is developed and experimentally verified. The model predicts ∼120 GHz bandwidth for optimized modulator dimensions.