Design and packaging aspects of microwave bandwidth lithium niobate modulators

摘要

Packaging of integrated optic modulators can be simplified if the electrodes are 50 ohms impedance. Recently built X-cut lithium niobate velocity matched modulators have a 50 ohm impedance. The interconnection of the modulators to external connectors by on-chip tapers is critical to their performance at frequencies in the 23 to 50 Ghz frequency range. The attachment of fibers to the modulators is being enhanced with work on a robotic machine that uses a combination of machine vision and active alignment to both coarse and fine position the fiber to the waveguide. The design goal is to have each fiber attached in under 2 minutes.