Key Technology Of The Organic Polymer Electro-optic Modulator

Electro-optic modulator is one of the important device in optical fiber communication systems. It has attracted more attention for their features of large bandwidth, low half-wave voltage, ease of fabrication and low cost production in recent years.The research significance and current situation of the electro-optic polymer modulator are introduced in this paper. The optimal electro-optic modulator can be get due to the characteristics of organic polymer. Then the operation and performance parameters of electro-optic modulator are reviewed.The final structure parameters are determined by the analysis and optimization of the waveguide and electrodes. The transmission characteristics affected by the ridge width and branch angle of the M-Z waveguide are simulated and analyzed by the effective index method (EIM) and finite difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM). By analyzing the electrode parameter satisfied with impedance matching of 50Ω,the electrode system model based on HFSS and propagation attenuation influenced by each parameters, the 3dB bandwidth of electrode system can be get as 10GHzThe fabrication technique of organic polymer modulator has been investigated systematically. The electro-optic film of core layer material made from IPC-E /polysulfone is manufactured by spin coating and poling. The E-O coefficients under different conditions of poling are measured by simple reflection method. The influences of time and temperature on the behavior of E-O coefficients are analyzed in detail. The bottom electrode, optical waveguide, top electrode are sequentially fabricated by using spin-coating, lithography, reactive ion etching, wet etching, poling, cutting and other processes. Then the organic polymer E-O modulator of single device based on the IPC-E/polysulfone can be obtained. The single device tested by coupling platform, 1550 nm laser, taper fiber, signal sources, optical detectors, oscilloscope ,and so on can be observed obvious phenomenon of electro-optic modulation.The improved solution is proposed by the analysis of measuring results and summarization of fabricated techniques. Optimizing poling conditions to get high electro-optic coefficient. Optimal design of microwave electrode structure to enhance the modulation bandwidth, and ultimately the packaging and practical can be achieved.