A systematic evaluation of Silicon-rich Nitride Electro-optic Modulator design and tradeoffs

Abstract: We present a study of linearized \c{hi}^(3) based electro-optic modulation beginning with an analysis of the nonlinear polarizability, and how to linearize a modulator based on the quadratic third order DC-Kerr effect. Then we perform a numerical study, designing a linearized \c{hi}^(3) phase modulator utilizing Silicon-rich Nitride where we show that a phase modulator with a V_{\pi} L_{\pi} metric of 1 Vcm or a V_{\pi} L_{\pi} {\alpha} metric of 37VdB is achievable and a V_{\pi} L_{\pi} as low as 0.5Vcm in a push-pull Mach Zehnder Interferometer. This numerical study argues that linearized modulation exploiting the \c{hi}^(3), and \c{hi}^(2) as applicable, is possible and can allow for high-speed modulation using a CMOS compatible material platform.