Silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) IQ modulator using the linear electro-optic effect for transmitting 16QAM at 112 Gbit/s.

Advanced modulation formats call for suitable IQ modulators. Using the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform we exploit the linear electro-optic effect by functionalizing a photonic integrated circuit with an organic χ(2)-nonlinear cladding. We demonstrate that this silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) technology allows the fabrication of IQ modulators for generating 16QAM signals with data rates up to 112 Gbit/s. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest single-polarization data rate achieved so far with a silicon-integrated modulator. We found an energy consumption of 640 fJ/bit.