ELECTRO OPTIC MODULATORS

Outline

 External modulation of laser

 Electro-optic effect
 Optical phase modulator
 Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator

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 ELECTRO OPTIC MODULATORS

Information Encoding in Lightwave Systems

 Direct Modulation of Laser

Bias + Data

Laser

 Simple
But
 Chirping, limited bandwidth, relaxation oscillation, limited
extinction ratio
 External Modulation of Laser

Bias Data

Laser Mod

Key Features

 Superior modulation - removes degrading effects of direct

modulation on laser linewidth and stability, chirping
 Broad bandwidth: 75 GHz
 Large extinction ratio
 Excellent spectral purity
 High power
2
Direct Modulation

Laser relaxation oscillation and dynamic frequency chirping

N N0

t
Lasing
Delay
P
S0

Comparison of transmitted spectra

Bias + Data

Power
Laser

DIRECT MODULATION

Bias Data

Power

Laser Mod

EXTERNAL MODULATION 3
Electro Optic Effect

Electro-optic modulation of light is based on the linear electro- optic

effect in crystals, whose refractive index is changed by an applied
electric field (Pockels effect)
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n   n3  r  E
2
where n = change in refractive index
n = original refractive index
r = electro-optic coefficient
E = applied electric field

Materials for optoelectronic modulators

Ceramics
LiNbO3, LiTaO3, KDP potassium dihydrogen phosphate

r  30  1012 m / V
n  2.2

Semiconductors
GaAs, InP, ..., InGaAsP

Polymers

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Optical Phase Modulator
V

E
Optical
Waveguide

n L
Propagation time through waveguide of length L t
c
n  L
A change of n causes a change in propagation time t 
c
n    L 2
Change in phase of output light     t   n  L
c 

1 V
In above structure n   n3r 
2 d n  2.2
n  2  105   1.5 m
d  15 m
 L r  3010-12 m/V
   n3r V
 d   0.5

Hence  V

 d
Voltage required to produce phase shift of  V 
n3  r    L

Design with large L/d ratio eg. L = 2 cm, d = 15 m, V = few volts

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Mach-Zehnder Intensity Modulator

 Based on optical interferometer

 Output is phasor sum of two light waves that travel through
different paths, resulting in constructive or destructive interference
depending on the optical path length difference

Beamsplitter 1
E11 Mirror 1
Input
Ei

E21
E12
Output 1
E22 E01
Mirror 2
Beamsplitter 2
E02
Output 2

Beamsplitter causes /2 phase difference between the phasors of the

reflected and transmitted waves

1 j / 4
For 50:50 split Reflection coefficient r e
2
1  j / 4
Transmission coefficient t e
2

At beam splitter 1 Electric fields E11  t Ei

E21  r Ei

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Let phase delays in the two arms of the interferometer be 1 and 2

At input to beamsplitter 2 E12  t Ei e j1

E22  r Ei e j 2
Output 1
Eo1  r E21  t E22

 r t Ei e  j1  e  j 2 
Let difference in phase delay   1  2

1
Average phase delay 0   1  2 
2

 Eo1  rtEi e  j 0 e  j / 2  e j / 2 

  Ei cos  e  j 0
 2
Power
2
 Po1  Eo1
  
 Pin cos2  
 2

P 1  cos 
1

2 in
Po1
Pin

Transfer
Function

    

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Note For output 2  Po 2  Pin  Po1 (power conservation)
  
 Pin 1  cos2   
  2 

 Pin sin2  
 2

 Po 2  Pin 1  cos 

1
2

Electro-optic M-Z modulator

 Place electro-optic modulators in arms of the interferometer to

control the optical phase difference through the applied voltage

 V

 Increase effective phase modulation by using a push-pull

configuration in driving the interferometer

i.e. phase modulators in both arms are driven with modulating voltages
of opposite polarities so phase is advanced in one arm and retarded in
other  net phase difference is double that produced in either arm.

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Integrated Electro-optic Modulator Structures

(a) Directional coupler beamsplitters

Phase
Modulators
Input Output 1

Directional
Output 2
Directional
Coupler 1 Coupler 2
(Beamsplitter) (Beamcombiner)

(b) Y-branch waveguide coupler beam splitters

Phase
Modulators

Input Output

Y branch Y branch
Coupler 1 Coupler 2

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System trends

Needs
 Higher Capacity
 Graceful Growth and Reliability

Solutions
 Larger Bandwidth
 WDM
 Optical Amplification
 External Modulation

Next Generation Systems

Laser E/O Mod REC

Laser E/O Mod D REC

E
M
M
U
U
X EDFA X

Laser E/O Mod REC

WDM 1 < N < 8

2.5< B <10 Gb/s

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 OPTICAL COMMUNICATION LINKS

Basic optical telecommunication link

= (0.85), 1.3, 1.55 m

Laser Optical
Transmitter Receiver
Optical
Fibre Optical
Amplifier

System Design

A. Power Budget

 Ensure sufficient optical power reaches receiver to meet the

receiver sensitivity requirements

Tx Rx
PT PR

Fibre Splice
Connector

Power launched into fibre PT

Receiver required optical power at sensitivity limit PR

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Power budget, using dB units

PT  PR  CL  M S

where C L  total channel loss ie. fibre attenuation loss,

connectors, splices.
M S  system margin

Note. A system margin M S of 6-8 dB is allocated to account for

additional sources of power penalty that may develop during the system
lifetime due to component aging, degradations, etc.

B. Rise-time Budget

 Ensure subsystems have sufficient bandwidth so the system can

operate at the intended bit rate.

Risetime - is used to allocate bandwidth among various

subsystem components

Output
1
0.9

0.1
t
TR
Risetime

Definition Rise time is the time taken for response to go from 10%
to 90% of its final value, for a step input change
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eg. for a single-pole linear system

xout 1

xin 1  s / s p1

1
Let the input be a step function xin 
s
s p1t
 Output xout  1  e

Time to go from 10%  90% of final value

2.2
TR 
s p1

The bandwidth  3dB is also given by the pole s p1

2. 2 0.35
 TR  
 3dB f 3dB

ie. there is an inverse relation between bandwidth f 3dB and risetime TR

Relation between bandwidth f 3dB and bit rate B depends on the digital
format that is used.
B
For non-return-to-zero NRZ format f 3dB 
2

0.7
 TR 
B

The communication system must be designed so TR is below this

maximum value.
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Subsystem contributions of overall risetime

The 3 components of an optical link have individual risetimes

associated with them.

The total risetime of the whole system

TR2  TTx2  Tf2  TRx

2

where TTx  transmitter risetime (laser or LED)

Tf  fibre risetime  0 for short fibre

TRx  receiver risetime (PIN or APD & receiver

front-end circuit)

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