The demand for bandwidth is increasing vigorously. Thus wired network is using fiber optic telephone line instead of coaxial cable. The concept of Fiber to the Home (FTTH) is really coming into picture. Few countries like Japan, Korea etc are leading in this technology. But now the major challenge is how to provide the high speed internet connection wirelessly. Thus the change is to integrate the wireless and optical fiber communication. / Wireless Optical Communication

Los moduladores son elementos claves para la transmisión de la señal y el procesamiento de la información. Las técnicas de fabricación avanzadas "complementary metal-oxide semiconductor" (CMOS) permiten reducir drásticamente las dimensiones de estos dispositivos de interés para la implementación a gran escala en un chip de silicito a bajo coste. El trabajo realizado en esta tesis se centra en el diseño, la fabricación y la caracterización de estructuras de onda lenta con el objetivo de realizar moduladores compactos y eficientes integrados en un chip de silicio. El trabajo se divide en cuatro capítulos y un capítulo de conclusión y perspectivas. El capítulo uno introduce los fundamentos de física del estado sólido y de los mecanismos básicos de propagación guiada de la luz por reflexión total interna. El capítulo dos presenta los parámetros importantes de los moduladroes electro-ópticos así como un trabajo de recopilación de todos los mecanismos físicos que pueden ser empleados para modular la luz en silicio. Además, se presenta el estado del arte de los moduladores basados en silicio. El capítulo tres presenta el diseño , fabricación y caracterización de un modulador electro-óptico en silicio compacto y eficiente basado en el efecto de onda lenta en una estructura periódica unidimensional integrada, cuya geometría, similar a la de una red de Bragg, permite reducir la velocidad de grupo de un paquetes de ondas. Dicho efecto, se emplea para incrementar la interacción luz-materia y por lo tanto la eficiencia del modulador electro-óptico. El capítulo cuatro demuestra experimentalmente que dicha guía unidimensional periódica puede ser mejorada a fin de conseguir que el efecto de baja velocidad de grupo suceda en un rango mayor de longitudes de onda para posibles aplicaciones como la multiplexación por división de longitudinal de onda. En el capítulo cinco, se proporcionan conclusiones y perspectivas sobre el trabajo realizado. / Brimont ., ACJ. (2011). Towards Compact and High Speed Silicon Modulators [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/14345

Silicon photonics is one of the most exciting and fastest growing photonic technologies in recent years. The salient feature of this technology is its compatibility with the mature silicon IC manufacturing based on complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes widely used in microelectronic industry. Another motivation is the availability of high-quality silicon-on-insulator (SOI) planar waveguide circuits that offer strong optical confinement due to the high index contrast between silicon (n=3.45) and SiO2 (n=1.45). This opens up miniaturization and very large scale integration of photonic devices allowing photonic integrated circuits for a wide range of applications and markets, from optical telecommunications to bio-photonic devices or precise fibre sensors. Optical modulators are key building-blocks for high speed signal transmission and information processing in any photonic interconnection solution. The work developed in this thesis, as part of the objectives of the European project HELIOS in which it is framed, is essentially focused on realizing compact and efficient modulators integrated on silicon chips. The thesis consists of three main chapters as well as the concluding section on the work accomplished. Chapter one is aimed at giving a general description of the benefits of using silicon photonics, showing its challenges and opportunities as well as at giving a deeply overview of all issues related to the electro-optic modulation. Chapter two is devoted to develop silicon modulators with high features for digital applications. Specifically, new optical structures different to the conventional ones are presented with the aim of enhancing the modulation performance or at least several critical parameters in the modulation. Chapter three is dedicated to the analog applications. The concept of microwave photonics is described as well as different researches carried out in the analog scope for application in the field of integrated microwave photonics, all of them using CMOS-compatible electro-optic silicon modulators which validate the potential of silicon photonics as a promising approach for enabling the development of integrated microwave photonics applications. Finally, conclusions on the work realized are provided in Chapter 4. / La fotónica de silicio es una de las tecnologías fotónicas que está experimentando un crecimiento más excitante y rápido en los últimos años. La característica más destacada de esta tecnología es su compatibilidad con las maduras técnicas de fabricación de circuitos integrados de silicio basadas en los procesos ¿complementary metal-oxide semiconductor¿ (CMOS) ampliamente utilizados en la industria microelectrónica. Otra motivación es la disponibilidad de circuitos de guía de ondas planas de silicio sobre aislante (SOI) de alta calidad que ofrecen un fuerte confinamiento óptico debido al alto contraste índices entre el silicio (n=3,45) y el SiO2 (n = 1,45). Esto abre las puertas a la miniaturización y a la integración a gran escala de dispositivos fotónicos lo que resulta en circuitos fotónicos integrados para una amplia gama de aplicaciones y mercados, desde telecomunicaciones ópticas a dispositivos bio-fotónicos o sensores de fibra precisos. Los moduladores ópticos son elementos básicos fundamentales para la transmisión de señales a alta velocidad y el procesado de información en cualquier solución de interconexión fotónica. El trabajo desarrollado en esta tesis, como parte del los objetivos del proyecto Europeo HELIOS en el que está enmarcada, se centra fundamentalmente en realizar moduladores compactos y eficientes, integrados en chips de silicio. La tesis consiste en 3 capítulos principales así como una sección de conclusiones del trabajo conseguido. El capítulo uno está destinado a dar una descripción general de los beneficios del uso de la fotónica de silicio, mostrando sus retos y oportunidades, así como a dar una visión profunda de todos los aspectos relacionados con la modulación electro-óptica. El capítulo dos está dedicado a desarrollar moduladores de silicio de altas prestaciones para aplicaciones digitales. Específicamente, se presentan nuevas estructuras ópticas diferentes a las convencionales con el objetivo de mejorar el rendimiento de la modulación o al menos algunos parámetros críticos en la modulación. El tercer capítulo se dedica a las aplicaciones analógicas. Se describe el concepto de la fotónica de microondas, así como diferentes investigaciones llevadas a cabo en el ámbito analógico para su aplicación en el campo de la fotónica integrada de microondas, todas ellas usando moduladores electro-ópticos de silicio compatibles con los procesos de fabricación CMOS, lo que valida el potencial de la fotónica de silicio como un prometedor enfoque para permitir el desarrollo de aplicaciones de la fotónica integrada de microondas. Por último, las conclusiones sobre el trabajo realizado se proporcionan en el Capítulo 4. / Gutiérrez Campo, AM. (2013). Development of integrated silicon photonics modulation devices for digital and analog applications [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/33330

This dissertation presents the fabrication and analysis of in-fiber devices based on elliptical core D-shaped optical fiber. Devices created inside optical fibers are attractive for a variety of reasons including low loss, high efficiency, self-alignment, light weight, multiplexibility, and resistance to electromagnetic interference. This work details how D-fiber can be used as a platform for a variety of devices and describes the creation and performance of two of these devices: an in-fiber polymer waveguide and a surface relief fiber Bragg grating. In D-fiber the core is very close to the flat side of the ‘D’ shape. This proximity allows access to the fields in the fiber core by removal of the cladding above the core. The D-fiber we use also has an elliptical core, allowing for the creation of polarimetric devices. This work describes two different etch processes using hydrofluoric acid (HF) to remove the fiber cladding and core. For the creation of devices in the fiber core, the core is partially removed and replaced with another material possessing the required optical properties. For devices which interact with the evanescent field, cladding removal is terminated before acid breaches the core. Etching fibers prepares them for use in the creation of in-fiber devices. Materials are placed into the groove left when the core of a fiber is partially removed to form a hybrid waveguide in which light is guided by both the leftover core and the inserted material. These in-fiber polymer waveguides have insertion loss less than 2 dB and can potentially be the basis for a number of electro-optic devices or sensors. A polarimetric temperature sensor demonstrates the feasibility of the core replacement method. This work also describes the creation of a surface relief fiber Bragg gratings (SR-FBGs) in the cladding above the core of the fiber. Because it is etched into the surface topography of the fiber, a SR-FBG can operate at much higher temperatures than a standard FBG, up to at least 1100 degrees Celsius. The performance of a SR-FBG is demonstrated in temperature sensing at high temperatures, and as a strain sensor.

This thesis deals with optical synthesis of unmodulated and modulated microwave signals. Generation of microwave signals based on optical heterodyning is discussed in detail. The effect of phase noise of laser on heterodyned output has been studied for different phase noise profiles. Towards this, we propose a generic algorithm to numerically model the linewidth broadening of a laser due to phase noise. Generation of microwave signals is demonstrated practically by conducting an optical heterodyning experiment. Signals ranging in frequency from 12.5 MHz to 27 GHz have been generated. Limitations of optical heterodyning based approach in terms of phase noise performance and frequency stability are discussed and practically demonstrated. A hardware-efficient Optical Phase Locked Loop (OPLL) is proposed to overcome these issues. Phase noise tracking performance of the proposed OPLL has been experimentally demonstrated. Phase noise values as low as -105 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz offset have been achieved. Optical modulators, owing to their extremely low electro-optic response time, can support high frequency modulating signals. This makes them highly attractive in comparison to their microwave counterparts. In this thesis, we propose techniques to generate microwave signals modulated at very high bit rates by down-converting the corresponding modulated optical signals to microwave domain. Down-conversion required for this process is achieved by optical heterodyning. The proposed concept has been theoretically analyzed, simulated and experimentally validated. Amplitude Modulated and ASK modulated microwave signals have been generated as Proof-of-Concept. Limitations posed by OPLL in generation of angle modulated microwave signals by optical heterodyning have been brought out. Schemes overcoming these limitations have been proposed towards generation of BPSK and QPSK modulated microwave signals. Integrated Optics (IO) technology has been studied as a means of implementation of the proposed concepts. IO components like Sinusoidal bends, Y-branch splitters and Electro-Optic-Modulators (EOMs) have been designed towards optical synthesis of modulated microwave signals. Propagation of modulated optical signal through these IO components has also been studied. An all-optic scheme based on Optical Beam Forming is proposed for transmission of QPSK modulated signal. Limitation of phase-shifting based approach, in terms of beam-squint, has been brought out. True-Time-Delay based approach has been proposed for applications demanding wide instantaneous bandwidth to avoid beam-squint. Algorithms / numerical methods required for analyses and simulations associated with the above-mentioned tasks have been evolved. This study is envisaged to provide useful insight into the realization of high-speed, compact, light-weight data transmitting systems based on Integrated Optics for future onboard spacecraft applications. This work, we believe, is a step towards realization of an Integrated Optic System-on-Chip solution for specific microwave data transmission applications.