Large Enhancement of Linearity in Electroabsorption Modulator with Composite Quantum-Well Absorption Core

We proposed a novel structure that improved the linear characteristics of electroabsorption modulator (EAM) with composite quantum-wells as an absorption core layer. We fabricated three types of EAM’s whose active cores were 8 nm thick, 12 nm thick and a composite core with 8 nm thick and 12 nm thick quantum-well (QW), respectively. The transfer functions of EAM’s were investigated and their third-order inter-modulation distortion (IMD3) was obtained by calculation. The spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) was measured and compared with three types of QW. The linearity of the device with composite quantum-well showed a large enhancement in SFDR by 9.3 dB ·Hz2/3 in TE mode and 7.0 dB ·Hz2/3 in TM mode compared with the conventional EAM. key words: electroabsorption modulator, linear transfer function, composite quantum-well, SFDR