The smallest electro-optic modulator, the size of which is comparable to the size of the bacterium, has been created

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Electro-optical modulators are one of the key components of modern fiber optic communication networks. They are an optical analogue of an electronic transistor, only instead of electric current they allow you to control the flow of photons of light passing through the structure of the device, and modulate the optical signal transmitted by information presented in binary form. Modulators are located in each device without exception, to which fiber optic cable connects, and therefore the development of new types of such modulators is given a lot of attention.

Not so long ago, researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) created another new type of electro-opt modulator. It is 0.6 by 8 microns in size, which is comparable to the size of the bacterium and makes it the smallest in the world to date among other similar devices. The size of the new modulator is 10 times smaller than the size of existing devices, and the amount of energy required for its operation is 100 times less than the amount of energy required to operate the most efficient devices of this class.

To create a new electro-opt modulator, the researchers used current-conducting transparent oxides. “Our main invention is a control electrode made of current-conducting transparent oxide. Using this material has combined the shutter with a metal-oxide semiconductor capacitor and an ultracompact photon crystal,” says Alan Wang, a professor at the University of Oregon.

In addition to miniaturizing the design of the electro-optical modulator, the use of transparent materials has increased the efficiency of electronic-photo interactions several times, so that the new modulator needs very little energy and has a low level of optical losses, which amount to only 0.5 dB. From an energy point of view, the efficiency of the new modulator is 46 femthoules per bit of information, which, provided it is used in supercomputers and information centers, can lead to significant savings.

Source www.dailytechinfo.org