Ultra-Compact, Fully Packaged Broadband Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Modulator for Microwave Photonics

Broadband, compact electro-optic modulator is one of the key components in optical communication networks and microwave photonic systems. Here, this paper reports a thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator with a 3 dB electro-optic bandwidth greater than 50 GHz after encapsulation, and discusses the electro-optic response and thermo-optic phase- shifting performance of the device. The modulator chip has a 3 dB electro-optic bandwidth greater than 67 GHz, and the fully encapsulated device has a small size (31 mm x 10 mm x 5.3 mm) while having a high electro-optic bandwidth of up to 51 GHz and an excellent half-wave voltage length product as low as 2.5 V<middle dot> cm. The DC bias is thermally shifted with a 2.3V half-wave voltage for reliable and stable bias characteristics.