10-Gb/s Error-Free Silicon Optical Modulator for Both TE and TM Polarized Light

We report the first experimental demonstration of a silicon optical modulator based on a pipin diode integrated in a 50- μm radius ring resonator. Large modulation efficiency was obtained with a VπLπ product of 3 V· cm for both transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) input light. Insertion loss of the doped ring resonator was lower than 1 dB and 10-Gb/s operations was demonstrated with an extinction ratio of 5.9 dB for TE and of 5.3 dB for TM polarization. A bit-error rate (BER) lower than 10-9 was measured in both TE and TM polarizations, proving the potential application of the modulator in optical transmission systems.