Broadband and wavelength selective modulators for optical communications based on electro-optic polymers (TOE.6067)

State-of-the-art optical fibers systems for telecommunications operate at 40
Gb/s. They use electrically driven external modulators based on the inorganic crystal Lithiumniobate. Increasing the capacity beyond 40 Gb/s is difficult due to the unfavorable electrical properties of the Lithiumniobate and its limited response to the electrical drive signal.
Organic polymeric materials containing electro-optic molecules can be designed and synthesized without the presence of these drawbacks in order to make system capacities in the 100 Gb/s range feasible.

The project aims at designing and synthesizing polymers with a high electro-optic activity and realizing broadband (100 Gb/s) modulators using these polymers. Apart from high speed, attention will also be paid to obtain high reliability. We will apply the non-conventional microring resonator in the modulator design, because it combines high-response potential with small size (ringdiameter about 100 micrometer) and wavelength selectivity.