Silicon Photonics IQ Modulator Targeted for 800ZR Data Center Interconnection

An all-silicon polarization-multiplexed modulator is demonstrated for the first time at 120GBaud-16QAM over 100-km SSMF, achieving per-polarization output power of -18.7dBm and rOSNR of 23.5dB at oFEC BER threshold. A BER of 1.4e-3 was obtained with a 63-GHz scope without sophisticated DSP or optical equalization.