Abstract

We demonstrate the complete characterization of a sinusoidally driven electro-absorption modulator (EAM) over a range of RF drive voltages and reverse bias conditions. An accurate performance map for the EAM, to be employed as a pulse generator and demultiplexer in an optical time division multiplexed (OTDM) system, can be realized by employing the Frequency Resolved Optical Gating technique. The generated pulses were characterized for chirp, extinction ratio (ER) and pulse width (<4 ps). The optimization of the EAM’s drive conditions is important to ensure that the generated pulses have the required spectral and temporal characteristics to be used in high-speed systems. The ER and pulse width also influence the demultiplexing performance of an EAM in an OTDM system. This is confirmed by utilizing the EAM as a demultiplexer in an 80 Gb/s OTDM system and measuring the BER as a function of the received optical power for various values of the ER and pulse width. It is of paramount importance to accurately characterize the performance of each individual EAM as the modulators characteristics are device dependant, thus optimum performance can be achieved with slight variations to the device’s drive conditions. By employing FROG, an optimum performance map of each specific device can be deduced. Simulations carried out verified the experimental results achieved.