DPSK Modulation with a Dual-drive Silicon Photonic Loop-mirror Modulator

A loop-mirror modulator (LMM) combines a Mach–Zehnder modulator with an integrated loop mirror. Differential phase shift keying modulation for the LMM with dual-drive traveling wave electrodes is investigated. We show analytically that when operated with the proper bias conditions, the LMM can achieve the arbitrary phase and amplitude modulation. We demonstrate experimentally an error-free transmission at 10 Gb/s.