Resonator-assisted control of radio-frequency response in an optical modulator
First Claim
1. An optical modulator, comprising:
- an optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second internal arms;
a first optical resonator; and
a first optical coupler adapted to optically couple the first optical resonator and the first internal arm, wherein;
the optical modulator is adapted to modulate an optical carrier with data applied to a data input of the modulator; and
the first optical resonator and the first optical coupler are tunable to change a radio-frequency response of the modulator to the data modulation to causethe optical modulator to exhibit an inverted radio-frequency response in a spectral range around an optical frequency of the optical carrier.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment, an optical modulator has a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and an optical resonator coupled, via a tunable optical coupler, to one of the MZI internal arms. The optical resonator induces in the MZI frequency-dependent optical losses characterized by a comb of spectral resonances. The coupling strength between the optical resonator and the MZI set by the optical coupler controls the magnitude of the loss due to the resonances, while one or more optical phase shifter located in the optical resonator controls the spectral position of the resonances. Either the optical coupler or the optical phase shifter, or both, can be tuned to adjust the modulator'"'"'s radio-frequency response curve.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An optical modulator, comprising:
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an optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second internal arms; a first optical resonator; and a first optical coupler adapted to optically couple the first optical resonator and the first internal arm, wherein; the optical modulator is adapted to modulate an optical carrier with data applied to a data input of the modulator; and the first optical resonator and the first optical coupler are tunable to change a radio-frequency response of the modulator to the data modulation to cause the optical modulator to exhibit an inverted radio-frequency response in a spectral range around an optical frequency of the optical carrier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of modulating light, comprising:
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applying an optical carrier to an optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second internal arms, wherein; the optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer is part of an optical modulator; the optical modulator further comprises an optical resonator and an optical coupler adapted to optically couple the optical resonator and the first internal arm; the optical resonator comprises a tunable phase shifter; and optical loss induced in the first arm by the optical resonator is characterized by one or more spectral resonances, each having a spectral position; modulating the optical carrier with data applied to a data input of the modulator, wherein the data modulation causes said spectral positions to vary in time; and tuning the optical resonator and the optical coupler to change radio-frequency response of the modulator to the data modulation, wherein said tuning causes; a time-averaged spectral resonance to be substantially at an optical frequency of the optical carrier;
oran optical frequency of the optical carrier to be spectrally located substantially equidistantly between two adjacent time-averaged spectral resonances. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method of modulating light, comprising:
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applying an optical carrier to an optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second internal arms, wherein; the optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer is part of an optical modulator; and the optical modulator further comprises an optical resonator and an optical coupler adapted to optically couple the optical resonator and the first internal arm; modulating the optical carrier with data applied to a data input of the modulator; and tuning the optical resonator and the optical coupler to cause the optical modulator to exhibit an inverted radio-frequency response in a spectral range around an optical frequency of the optical carrier. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification