HIGH SPEED ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATORS

THE PROSPECTS OF EFFICIENT COUPLING INTO A SINGLE MODE OPTICAL FIBER, EASE OF FABRICATION AND FORMATION OF ARRAYS, AND SUITABILITY FOR OPTOELECTRONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, HAVE LED TO RAPID ADVANCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASERS (VCSEL). THEY HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF OPERATING AS SENSITIVE, LOW NOISE, LUMPED CONSTANT MODULATORS TO HIGH MILLIMETER-WAVE FREQUENCIES. WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE AND DEMONSTRATE THE CAPABILITIES OF VERTICAL CAVITY STRUCTURES (VCS) DEVICES DEVELOPED FOR HIGH SPEED MODULATION OF OPTICAL CARRIERS. IN PHASE I WE WILL DEFINE MODULATOR CONCEPTS AND GENERATE A DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP FOR THEM, INCLUDING DEVICE FABRICATION AND TEST PLANS. WE WILL TRANSLATE SYSTEM AND CIRCUIT APPLICATIONS INTO DEVICE REQUIREMENTS, DEVELOP DEVICE MODELS, ANALYZE THE PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATE DESIGNS, AND DEFINE AN INGAASP/INP PROTOTYPE DEMONSTRATION DEVICE FOR THE 1.3-1.5 UM RANGE. IN PHASE II THE PROTOTYPE MODULATOR WILL BE FABRICATED USING THE METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (MOCVD) METHOD, AND ITS PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED AND COMPARED WITH THE THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOW COST, LARGE OPTICAL AND MODULATION BANDWIDTHS, LOW OPTICAL INSERTION LOSS, HIGH SENSITIVITY, LOW NOISE MODULATORS. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATIONS, OPTICAL RELAYING, ANTENNA BEAM FORMING, AND SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE CARRIERS, AS WELL AS, OPTICAL COMPUTING AND SWITCHING.