Design of a 200Gbps externally modulated laser for opto-electronic integration

Abstract: Segmented traveling wave electro-absorption modulators (TWEAMs) can provide a modulation speed above 100 Gb/s, which is needed in new optical communication networks. In the EU-project TWILIGHT, KTH continues the design work of TWEAMs in the EU-projects IPHOBAC and HECTO with the aim to design a new optical modulator to be integrated with an electronic layer. The structure of the modulator has to be changed in order to make it compatible with the integration technology that will be used in the project. Like in previous projects, the PSPICE software is an important tool for the design work. The past studies left a large amount of different models and test data. This thesis has been focused on studying these models and data to see if they can help the future work in the project. This includes the comparison of the geometrical dimensions, the microwave properties, and the simulation results with the fabricated modulators in the past projects. The electrical parameters are also critical for the design work, especially the capacitance which determines the impedance of the modulator. Since the TWILIGHT project needs a new design of the modulator, the calculation of these parameters will change. This thesis contains a study how this can be done and discusses the parameters for the new TWEAM design.