Polymer optoelectronics and semiconductor grafting for aerospace applications

Aerospace applications of photonic communications and signal processing require high performance devices made from diverse materials. We have successfully demonstrated integrated Mach-Zehnder modulators with an optical push-pull structure for lower power consumption. Efficient electrical field poling has been achieved with a narrow poling electrode gap to accommodate a single MSL circuit. Such a device structure can double the effective E-O coefficient without compromising other performance figures. The modulator exhibited a 50% reduction in V,compared with the non-push-pull device. Polymer modulators show excellent bias stability. For semiconducting grafting, new signal processing devices allow miniaturization as well as the assembly of dissimilar materials for new types of photo detectors and integrated optoelectronic devices. Future photonic communications signal processing systems will require integrated devices with very broad bandwidth. Our results with both polymer and semiconductor devices show that both integration and high performance, broadband components can be achieved.