Manufacturing of High Speed Modulators for Dual-Use Communication Systems

Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to build a production prototype electrooptic external modular based on x(2) polymer. POC's modulator does not suffer from the shortcomings of state-of-the-art modulators such as nonlinearity, intermodulation products, harmonic distortion, or frequency chirping. Two preferred modulator configurations are proposed, and are considered to be ideally suited for dual use applications. These are: a plasmon EO modulator and a waveguide EO modulator. In the plasmon modulator, the EO polymer is external with respect to the channel waveguide, while in the waveguide modulator, the waveguide is made up of the EO polymer itself. After completion of the Phase I project, POC will focus in Phase II on expanding the results of Phase I by optimizing the fabrication and material processes to meet international standards of quality productization. Phase II will also include ehancing the performance characteristics of both modulators, and cost effectively expanding the application base beyond the U.S. market. The projected cost estimate of POC's modulator is less than $100 per unit, vs. tens of thousands of dollars for state-of-the-art modulators. Anticipated Benefits: Anticipated benefits are very broad for both the miilitary and commercial markets. The major commercial benefits to the nation will be in communications, specifically in information superhighways, multimedia information systems, HD video distributions, ultrahigh speed optical fiber networks, global grid, and theater extension networks to provide multi-Gbits/s data rate transmission.