Linearized multiple quantum well electro-absorption modulator by quantum well intermixing technique

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new technique to suppress the non-linearity of multiple quantum well (MQW) electro-absorption (EA) modulator, mainly due to an exponential-like transmission characteristics of EA modulator and non-linearity of quantum confined stark effect (QCSE), by intermixing MQW absorption region. Optical properties and its dependence on applied bias voltages of intermixed InGaAs/InGaAsP MQW absorption region, such as transition energy and gain (or absorption) spectrum have been calculated by solving Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian. It has been shown that the transfer function of a MQW-EA modulator can be tailored by introducing differently intermixed regions along the waveguide direction. It has been also shown that proposed technique can suppress IMD2 (2nd order intermodulation distortion) by 39.6 dB and enhance spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) by a 3.6 dB by choosing proper combination of interdiffusion lengths and waveguide lengths.