Advances in thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulators
Electro-optic modulators are widely used in optical communication systems.It changes the amplitude,phase,and other information of the optical carrier by applying external electrical signals,thus realizing the conversion between high-speed electrical signals and optical signals.With the increasing demand for data traffic and communication network bandwidth,higher requirements are proposed for the performance and integration of electro-optic modulators.Thin-film lithium niobate modulators have low power consumption,large bandwidth,small size,and relatively mature preparation technology.These advantages make them become a practical solution for the future development of integrated optics.This paper reviews the working principle and design methods of thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulators,systematically summarizes the significant performance indicators of modulators,introduces the research progress of.mainstream structural electro-optic modulators such as phase modulators and Mach-Zehnder intensity modulators,and discusses the currently effective solutions used to improve modulator performance.Finally,the problems and future development of thin-film electro-optic modulators are summarized and prospected.