Characterization of a 4$\,\times\,$ 4 Gb/s Parallel Electronic Bus to WDM Optical Link Silicon Photonic Translator

A 4times4 Gb/s microring modulator cascade, which can directly convert data from a parallel electrical bus to a multiple-wavelength optical signal in a single silicon-on-insulator waveguide, is demonstrated and characterized. The integrity of the modulated optical signal is verified using Q-factor extrapolations. In addition, the frequency characteristics and crosstalk, in terms of total harmonic distortion, are quantified. A transparent translator from electronics to optics such as this is crucial for the development of large-scale high-bandwidth interconnects based on photonic integrated circuits