China Develops First Domestic 110GHz Electro-Optic Intensity Modulator with Advanced Features
TapTechNews August 14th news, in December 2023, the first domestic 110GHz electro-optic intensity modulator product was successfully developed at the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center (NOEIC) and has been verified and ordered by many industrial customers.
More than half a year later, the Yangtze River Daily reported on the front page headline on August 13th that since the release of this electro-optic modulator at the end of last year, the orders have been scheduled until the fourth quarter of this year, and the supply is in short supply.
The main function of a high-speed electro-optic modulator is to convert electrical signals into optical signals, which is an indispensable core device in optoelectronic systems. With the rapid development of the optoelectronic information industry, the requirements for the bandwidth and rate of electro-optic modulators are also continuously increasing. Previously, China could only develop and produce electro-optic modulator products with a bandwidth within 40GHz, while electro-optic modulators with a bandwidth of more than 67GHz were monopolized by a few companies such as the United States and Japan, and the price was expensive, seriously threatening the independent development of the industry.
The first domestic 110GHz electro-optic modulator takes the domestic thin-film lithium niobate chip as the core and can work in the C and L bands. It has the characteristics of ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-high speed, low chirp, low driving voltage, and high linearity. Its 3dB bandwidth is as high as 110GHz, which is the first electro-optic modulator product in China with a bandwidth exceeding 110GHz. The key technical indicators have reached the international advanced level and will be widely used in broadband optoelectronic information systems such as optical communication, optical interconnection, optical computing, photoelectric test and measurement, and microwave photonics.
TapTechNews noticed that in the report of the Yangtze River Daily, it was mentioned that this modulator was installed in the optoelectronic test instrument of a domestic high-end instrument enterprise, and the latter successfully achieved the test of higher-performance photoelectric chips and devices, and is currently gradually replacing the market share of foreign manufacturers.