Design of BTO-Based Compact Electro-Optic Modulator

Abstract

We present a compact electro-optic (EO) modulator design exploiting the strong Pockels effect of Barium Titanate (BaTiO3 or BTO). This proposed structure, using parallel-plate electrodes tightly sandwiching the EO media, could achieve V[Formula: see text]L value as low as 35[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text]m, a significant reduction from current photonic-integrated Pockels EO modulators with V[Formula: see text]L value around 1[Formula: see text]V⋅cm. Compared to plasmonic EO modulators, this proposed structure offers much lower optical loss. The small footprint and low-loss properties of this modulator design allow for its future embodiment in photonic-integrated CMOS circuits.