Gregory J. McBrien

A review of lithium niobate modulators for fiber-optic communications systems

The current status of lithium-niobate external-modulator technology is reviewed with emphasis on design, fabrication, system requirements, performance, and reliability. The technology meets the performance and reliability requirements of current 2.5-, 10-, and 40-Gb/s digital communication systems, as well as CATV analog systems. The current trend in device topology is toward higher data rates and increased levels of integration. In particular, multiple high-speed modulation functions, such as 10-Gb/s return-to-zero pulse generation plus data modulation, have been achieved in a single device.

Practical applications for integrated optics in communications systems

This paper outlines implementation options for integrated optical components within current and future communications systems, with an emphasis on Lithium Niobate optical modulators and other transmission components.

Investigation and demonstration of enhanced I/O modulators incorporating optical carrier reduction

The dynamic range ofwideband microwave externally modulated fiber optic transmission systems is limited by the power handling ability ofthe photodetectors used in the receivers. External modulators can be designed to reduce the optical carrier of the output by using a branch structure to split offsome ofthe input optical carrier, and coherently reduce the optical carrier at the output. A number ofdesign issues relating to modulator fabrication and bias point control result from these approaches. Keywords: optical carrier suppression, external modulator, SFDR, photodiode power handling, fiber optic links