Broadband, high-linearity TFLN electro-optic modulator for integrated microwave photonics using reconfigurable dual-parallel modulation

• DOI: 10.1364/oe.554821
• Publication Date: 2025-03-07T21:00:21Z
• Authors: Yan-Yan Qin; Xiao-Wen Gu; Jie Tang; Hui-Yan Ye; Wen-Hao Dong; Yuan-Jun Song; Guang Qian; Xiao-Yang Zhang; Tong Zhang

Integrated electro-optic modulators with large bandwidth, high linearity and low driving voltage are key building blocks for integrated microwave photonic (IMWP) links to transmit broadband signals with high fidelity. In this work, thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator consisting of a thermo-optic reconfigurable coupler and dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulation scheme is proposed and demonstrated to achieve spurious-free dynamic range of 112.87/107.71 dB·Hz2/3 at 1/10 GHz while keeping large bandwidth (>67 GHz) and low half-wave voltage (2.7 V) simultaneously. The demonstration of this device paves a new route for high-performance electro-optic modulators in future functional IMWP systems.