Universal Silicon Ring Resonator for Error-Free Transmission Links

Abstract We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a universal silicon p-n junction ring resonator for C band error-free communication links operated up to 50 Gb/s with co-designed optical modulation and detection performance. The universal p-n junction ring device shows co-designed detection responsivity up to 0.84 A/W, and in conjunction with a modulation efficiency of ~4 Vmm and >8 dB optical modulation extinction ratio (ER), enabling C band 50-Gb/s NRZ communication link with bit error rate (BER) ≤ 3×10-12. Individually, the speed of modulation and detection is measured up to 112 Gb/s and 80 Gb/s, respectively. The principle of co-designing PN junction ring modulator and detector performance required for error-free communication links can significantly ease the fabrication yield challenges of ring structures by reducing the number of types of devices. The principle can also be applied to O band wavelengths. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, a device of this type has achieved both error-free modulation and detection operation up to 50 Gb/s in the C band individually or in conjugation as an error free communication link, which paves the way to realize a >1.6 Tb/s all-silicon WDM based error free optical transceiver link in future and is essential for future programmable photonics circuits.