Efficient mm-wave photomodulation via coupled Fabry–Perot cavities

An efficient mm-wave photomodulator is designed based on coupled Fabry–Perot modes in a low-lifetime silicon wafer and an adjacent cavity formed from a transparent reflector, such as indium tin oxide. The modulation of a reflected beam using this coupled-cavity design is increased by a factor of 7 c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2021-01, Vol.129 (3)
Main Authors: Barr, L. E., Hooper, I. R., Hornett, S. M., Lawrence, C. R., Hendry, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coupled modes
Fabry-Perot interferometers
Holes
Indium tin oxides
Millimeter waves
Modulation
Silicon
Silicon wafers
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An efficient mm-wave photomodulator is designed based on coupled Fabry–Perot modes in a low-lifetime silicon wafer and an adjacent cavity formed from a transparent reflector, such as indium tin oxide. The modulation of a reflected beam using this coupled-cavity design is increased by a factor of 7 compared with that from an isolated silicon wafer, while also introducing a degree of tunability and maintaining low angular dispersion. For the particular design built and tested, a modulation of 32% is achieved for an extremely low optical illumination of just 0.006 W / cm 2 and with a maximum operation rate of more than 3 kHz. The large increase in modulation, coupled with the flexibility of the design and the fact that all components can be industrially manufactured, makes this photomodulator a promising candidate for many communication, imaging, and sensing applications.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/5.0032506