NSFC 61001074: "Energy-efficient chirp-free silicon microring based optical modulators for next-generation high-speed optical communication systems", 2011/1 - 2013/12

Abstract: In this project, we propose a silicon ring-based optical modulation method to perform chirp-free optical modulations. We locate the light to be modulated at the resonance of the ring and tune the coupling coefficient between the ring and the straight waveguide by using a push–pull coupling structure. The chirp-free phase modulation can be achieved by varying the coupling coefficient in a large range, which can modify the coupling condition of the ring such that the input light experiences an abrupt phase shift of at the output. If the coupling coefficient is adjusted in a small range such that the coupling condition of the ring is kept unchanged, only the intensity of the light will be modulated. This leads to chirp-free intensity modulation.