Temperature performance of GaInNAs-based photonic crystal waveguide modulators

The temperature performances of GaInNAs-based semiconductor devices, for next generation communication networks and photonic integrated circuits, are investigated. In particular, GaInNAs-GaInAs Multi Quantum Well active ridge waveguides, patterned with a periodic onedimensional grating and an active defective region placed in the central layer, have been designed for efficient active optical switches and modulators. The switching mechanism was obtained around the Bragg wavelength λ ≅ 1.2896 µm at room temperature T = 298 K by properly designing the periodic grating and changing the injected current density from JOF F = 0 mA/µm2 to JON = 0.496 mA/µm2. The proposed device exhibits high performances in terms of crosstalk, contrast ratio, and modulation depth. The temperature performance of the proposed device is analyzed in the range T = 298 K–400 K, showing a good stability of the figures of merit: crosstalk CT, contrast ratio CR, and bandwidth ∆λ. In particular, the CT varies at about 1.2 dB in the whole temperature range, whereas CR and ∆λ experience, respectively, a maximum variation of 25% and 30% of their maximum values.