Abstract

Integration of a booster semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is an efficient way of overcoming losses in InP based Mach–Zehnder modulators. We analyze the impact of locating the SOA before and after the MZM, respectively, in terms of output power and signal integrity at 10 Gb/s, both experimentally and theoretically. For a device with 10 dB MZM loss it is found that, for a fixed power consumption, locating the SOA after the MZM provides 7–9 dB higher output power. This advantage is reduced for lower MZM losses but remains significant. With the SOA after the MZM, the gain is restricted by dynamic saturation effects (waveform distortion), which is not the case if the SOA is at the input of the MZM. The waveform distortion is accompanied by a spectral red-shift, which degrades the transmission performance. Simulations show that for MZM losses below ${\sim} {\hbox {4}}$ dB, locating the SOA before the MZM can provide a higher power with no waveform distortion and negative chirp, at the cost of a higher SOA gain. For higher MZM losses it is unfeasible to locate the SOA before the MZM, due to a prohibitively large power consumption.

© 2010 IEEE

Integration of a high-efficiency Mach-Zehnder modulator with a DFB laser using membrane InP-based devices on a Si photonics platform

Tatsurou Hiraki, Takuma Aihara, Takuro Fujii, Koji Takeda, Yoshiho Maeda, Takaaki Kakitsuka, Tai Tsuchizawa, and Shinji Matsuo
Opt. Express 29(2) 2431-2441 (2021)

Highly linear heterogeneous-integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulators on Si

Chong Zhang, Paul A. Morton, Jacob B. Khurgin, Jon D. Peters, and John E. Bowers
Opt. Express 24(17) 19040-19047 (2016)

Ultralinear heterogeneously integrated ring-assisted Mach–Zehnder interferometer modulator on silicon

Chong Zhang, Paul A. Morton, Jacob B. Khurgin, Jon D. Peters, and John E. Bowers
Optica 3(12) 1483-1488 (2016)

Flip-chip integrated silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator with a 28nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator CMOS driver

Zheng Yong, Stefan Shopov, Jared C. Mikkelsen, Robert Mallard, Jason C.C. Mak, Sorin P. Voinigescu, and Joyce K. S. Poon
Opt. Express 25(6) 6112-6121 (2017)

Micro-transfer printing InP C-band SOAs on advanced silicon photonics platform for lossless MZI switch fabrics and high-speed integrated transmitters

Jing Zhang, Laurens Bogaert, Clemens Krückel, Emadreza Soltanian, Hong Deng, Bahawal Haq, Johanna Rimböck, Joris Van Kerrebrouck, Guy Lepage, Peter Verheyen, Joris Van Campenhout, Peter Ossieur, Dries Van Thourhout, Geert Morthier, Wim Bogaerts, and Gunther Roelkens
Opt. Express 31(26) 42807-42821 (2023)