High extinction ratio and saturation power traveling-wave electroabsorption modulator

electroabsorption modulator is demonstrated with high extinction ratio and modulation efficiency. By designing a strain-compen-sated quantum-well active region with traveling-wave design, high saturation power ( 14 dBm) for 20-GHz high-speed performance (1.5 dB drop at 20 GHz) is achieved. Due to high modulation efficiency ( 30 dB/V for 0 to 1 V 40-dB extinction ratio in 2 V), error free 10-Gb/s operation with 1 driving voltage is obtained. By comparing codirections and counterdirec-tions of optical and microwave interactions, pulse generation at 40 GHz shows that the traveling-wave performance has an advantage for short pulse with high-power output, where pulsewidth of as short as 4.5 ps is obtained in this kind of devices. Index Terms—Electroabsorption, high extinction ration, high saturation power, high speed, low driving voltage, modulator, traveling wave. I