Ultra-compact silicon nanophotonic modulator with broadband response

Electro-optic modulators have been identifi ed as the key drivers for optical communication and signal processing. With an ongoing miniaturization of photonic circuitries, an outstanding aim is to demonstrate an on-chip, ultra-compact, electro-optic modulator without sacrifi cing bandwidth and modulation strength. While silicon-based electro-optic modulators have been demonstrated, they require large device footprints of the order of millimeters as a result of weak non-linear electro-optical properties. The modulation strength can be increased by deploying a high-Q resonator, however with the trade-off of signifi cantly sacrifi cing bandwidth. Furthermore, design challenges and temperature tuning limit the deployment of such resonance-based modulators. Recently, novel materials like graphene have been investigated for electro-optic modulation applications with a 0.1 dB per micrometer modulation strength, while showing an improvement over pure silicon devices, this design still requires device lengths of tens of micrometers due to the ineffi cient overlap between the thin graphene layer, and the optical mode of the silicon waveguide. Here we experimentally demonstrate an ultra-compact, silicon-based, electro-optic modulator with a record-high 1 dB per micrometer extinction ratio over a wide bandwidth range of 1 μm in ambient conditions. The device is based on a plasmonic metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) waveguide, which effi ciently concentrates the optical modes ’ electric fi eld into a nanometer thin region comprised of an absorption coeffi cient-tuneable indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer. The modulation mechanism originates from electrically changing the free carrier concentration of the ITO layer which dramatically increases the loss of this MOS mode. The seamless integration of such a strong optical beam modulation into an existing silicon-on-insulator platform bears signifi cant potential towards broadband, compact and effi cient communication links and circuits.