Kotura breakthrough modulator brings integrated silicon photonics one step closer

Feb. 5, 2010

Kotura, a provider of silicon photonics products, has demonstrated an optical communications modulator with 2 V peak-to-peak driving voltage that allows the use of inexpensive CMOS drivers and further enables the development of silicon photonics circuits for integrated optical interconnects.

Gail Overton

Monterey Park, CA--Kotura, a provider of silicon photonics products, has demonstrated an optical communications modulator with 2 V peak-to-peak driving voltage that allows the use of inexpensive CMOS drivers. With speeds in excess of 11 GHz and an ultra-low energy consumption of 50 fJ per bit, the on-chip device loss of 2 dB is among the lowest ever demonstrated.

The Kotura modulator was developed as part of the DARPA Ultraperformance Nanophotonic Intrachip Communications (UNIC) program in conjunction with Sun Microsystems, under the leadership of Jagdeep Shah.

“This technology breakthrough will enable the development of silicon photonics circuits for optical interconnect,” said Ashok Krishnamoorthy, principal investigator on the project and a distinguished engineer and director at Sun Microsystems. “This promises to significantly increase the penetration of optical interconnects within computing systems--starting with the high-end, where interconnect is a bottleneck, and working down into volume applications. This development opens the door for wavelength-multiplexed optical interconnects, which will reduce the complexity impact of connectors and cabling in such systems. Silicon photonics solves this problem by enabling high bandwidth connectivity over longer distances at lower power than copper wires. A high-speed, low-power modulator is a key component in these circuits.”

“WDM has the potential to lower the cabling complexity and cost of optical interconnects by orders of magnitude,” added Mehdi Asghari, CTO of Kotura. “A single silicon photonics device will require 10’s to 100’s of modulators, one for each wavelength of light. Our modulator has the right combination of low drive voltage, low power consumption, small size and low insertion loss to integrate many of these into a single chip.”

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.