Organic Electro-Optic Materials with High Electro-Optic Coefficients and Strong Stability

The preparation of high-performance electro-optical materials is one of the key factors determining the application of optoelectronic communication technology such as 5G communication, radar detection, terahertz, and electro-optic modulators. Organic electro-optic materials have the advantage of a high electro-optic coefficient (~1000 pm/V) and could allow the utilization of photonic devices for the chip-scale integration of electronics and photonics, as compared to inorganic electro-optic materials. However, the application of organic nonlinear optical materials to commercial electro-optic modulators and other fields is also facing technical bottlenecks. Obtaining an organic electro-optic chromophore with a large electro-optic coefficient (r33 value), thermal stability, and long-term stability is still a difficulty in the industry. This brief review summarizes recent great progress and the strategies to obtain high-performance OEO materials with a high electro-optic coefficient and/or strong long-term stability. The configuration of D-π-A structure, the types of materials, and the effects of molecular engineering on the electro-optical coefficient and glass transition temperature of chromophores were summarized in detail. The difficulties and future development trends in the practical application of organic electro-optic materials was also discussed.

Plasmonic metafibers electro-optic modulators

Digitalizing optical signals through electric driving signals, electro-optic modulators (EOMs) are one of the cardinal elements in modern optical communications. Most of current EOM devices are targeting on-chip integrations, which routinely suffer from high coupling losses, complex optical alignments and single-band operations. In this study, we for the first time integrate a lumped EOM device on the endfaces of a single-mode optical fiber jumper for fast amplitude modulations. Profiting from ultrathin and high quality-factor plasmonic metasurfaces, nanofabrication-friendly and highly efficient EO polymers and coupling-free connections with fiber networks, our EOM is demonstrated to allow dual-band operations (telecom O band and S band) and high-speed modulations (~1 GHz at a bias voltage of ±9 V). This work offers an avenue to 'plug-and-play' implementations of EO devices and ultracompact "all-in-fibers" optical systems for communications, imaging, sensing and many others.

High-temperature-resistant silicon-polymer hybrid modulator operating at up to 200 Gbit s-1 for energy-efficient datacentres and harsh-environment applications

To reduce the ever-increasing energy consumption in datacenters, one of the effective approaches is to increase the ambient temperature, thus lowering the energy consumed in the cooling systems. However, this entails more stringent requirements for the reliability and durability of the optoelectronic components. Herein, we fabricate and demonstrate silicon-polymer hybrid modulators which support ultra-fast single-lane data rates up to 200 gigabits per second, and meanwhile feature excellent reliability with an exceptional signal fidelity retained at extremely-high ambient temperatures up to 110 °C and even after long-term exposure to high temperatures. This is achieved by taking advantage of the high electro-optic (EO) activities (in-device n3r33 = 1021 pm V-1), low dielectric constant, low propagation loss (α, 0.22 dB mm-1), and ultra-high glass transition temperature (Tg, 172 °C) of the developed side-chain EO polymers. The presented modulator simultaneously fulfils the requirements of bandwidth, EO efficiency, and thermal stability for EO modulators. It could provide ultra-fast and reliable interconnects for energy-hungry and harsh-environment applications such as datacentres, 5G/B5G, autonomous driving, and aviation systems, effectively addressing the energy consumption issue for the next-generation optical communication.

Low driving voltage Mach-Zehnder interference modulator constructed from an electro-optic polymer on ultra-thin silicon with a broadband operation

An electro-optic (EO) polymer waveguide using an ultra-thin silicon hybrid has been designed and fabricated. The silicon core has the thickness of 50 nm and a width of 5 μm. The waveguide was completed after covering the cladding with the high temperature stable EO polymer. We have demonstrated a low half-wavelength voltage of 0.9 V at the wavelength of 1.55 μm by using a Mach-Zehnder interference modulator with TM mode operation. The measured modulation corresponded to an effective in-device EO coefficient of 165 pm/V. By utilizing the traveling-wave electrode on the modulator the high-frequency response was tested up to 40 GHz. The 3 dB modulation bandwidth was measured to be 23 GHz. In addition, the high frequency sideband spectral measurement revealed that a linear response of the modulation index against the RF power was confirmed up to 40 GHz signal.

Efficiently poled electro-optic polymer modulators

A titanium dioxide (TiO₂) / electro-optic (EO) polymer hybrid waveguide modulator was designed and fabricated. This modulator possessed a significant advantage for realizing high poling efficiency regardless of the EO polymer resistivity. The in-device EO coefficient was measured to be 100 pm/V, which was 32% higher than that of the thin polymer film. As a result, the phase modulator displayed a VπL figure of merit of 3.5 V∙cm at 1550 nm, which can be reduced further in a push-pull Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure. Temporal stability test of the modulator at 85°C indicated only 8% change of Vπ over 500 hours. The propagation loss in the waveguide was measured as ~3 dB/cm.

Research of the optimum molar ratio between guest and host chromophores in binary chromophore systems for excellent electro-optic activity

A series of binary chromophore systems were designed and prepared. The optimum molar ratio (OMR) between guest and host chromophores was first systematically explored in the BCSs. When at the OMR, there is the biggest EO coefficient growth rate.

Transition-metal-free decarboxylation of dimethyl malonate: an efficient construction of α-amino acid esters using TBAI/TBHP

A transition-metal-free decarboxylation coupling process for the preparation of α-amino acid esters, which succeeded in merging hydrolysis/decarboxylation/nucleophilic substitution, is well described. This strategy uses commercially available inexpensive starting materials, catalysts and oxidants and has a wide substrate scope and operational simplicity.

A hybrid electro-optic polymer and TiO2 double-slot waveguide modulator

An electro-optic (EO) modulator using a TiO2 slot hybrid waveguide has been designed and fabricated. Optical mode calculations revealed that the mode was primarily confined within the slots when using a double-slot configuration, thus achieving a high EO activity experimentally. The TiO2 slots also acted as an important barrier to induce an enhanced DC field during the poling of the EO polymer and the driving of the EO modulator. The hybrid phase modulator exhibited a driving voltage (Vπ) of 1.6 V at 1550 nm, which can be further reduced to 0.8 V in a 1 cm-long push-pull Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure. The modulator demonstrated a low propagation loss of 5 dB/cm and a relatively high end-fire coupling efficiency.

Recent advances in polymer electro-optic modulators

Development of polymer EO modulators.

The utilization of post-synthetic modification in opto-electronic polymers: an effective complementary approach but not a competitive one to the traditional direct polymerization process

By presenting some typical examples, the recent progress of opto-electronic polymers is reviewed, which were only accessible from the post-synthetic modification strategy.

TiO₂ ring-resonator-based EO polymer modulator

In this work, an electro-optic (EO) ring resonator modulator was designed and fabricated in a waveguide consisting of a titanium dioxide (TiO)₂ core, silicon dioxide (SiO₂) buffer layer, EO polymer claddings, and electrodes. By optimizing the thickness of the TiO₂ and SiO₂layers, the modulator could satisfy the single-mode requirement; furthermore 52.5% TM mode was confined in the active EO polymer layers. The designed modulator could also pole the EO polymer effectively regardless of its resistivity. Therefore, the EO modulator was observed to show a high resonance wavelength shift of 2.25 × 10(-2) nm/V. The intensity modulation at 1550 nm showed a Vp-p = 1.9 V for a 3dB distinction ratio.

Electro-optic modulator based on a photonic crystal slab with electro-optic polymer cladding

A type of modulator based on a shallow-etched photonic crystal (PC) slab of silicon-on-insulator material with electro-optic (EO) polymer cladding is designed and investigated. The transmission spectra of the PC slab with the EO polymer are calculated using a finite-difference time-domain method. The band structure and the field distribution of the guided mode resonance are calculated and analyzed. The modulation voltage and bandwidth of the hybrid modulator are simulated. It is shown that flexible designs of low-voltage modulation (0.2 V) or high-bandwidth modulation (62 GHz) can be obtained with the hybrid modulator.

Transmission ellipsometric method without an aperture for simple and reliable evaluation of electro-optic properties

A transmission ellipsometric method has been reformed without a spatial filtering aperture to characterize electro-optic (EO) performance of EO polymers. This method affords much simpler optical setup compared to the reflection method, and lets us easily perform detailed incident angle dependence measurements using a conventional glass substrate and an un-collimated beam. It is demonstrated that the reliable characterization with this method is possible in combination with a simple data analysis. By using the recently matured deposition technique of indium zinc oxide (IZO) on soft materials, it is possible to prepare the EO polymer sandwiched between two transparent electrodes. Thus the transmission method should be re-evaluated.