Thorlabs manufactures a variety of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) optical phase, intensity, and I/Q modulators. These high-performance devices are based on titanium-indiffused waveguide technology, offer large bandwidths, and are ideal for developing high-speed modulation systems.
- Up to 40 GHz Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) Modulators
- Fiber-Coupled, High-Speed Modulation
- Intensity, Phase, or I/Q
- X-Cut or Z-Cut Devices
Features:
- Titanium-Indiffused Waveguides
- Low Optical Loss
- Long-Term Bias Stability
- Hermetically Sealed Packaging
- FC/PC Fiber Connectors
The modulators on this page are fabricated from either X-cut or Z-cut LiNbO3 (see the example diagrams to the right). X-cut intensity modulators employ a symmetrical design that provides low frequency-chirp in the modulated signal, while Z-cut intensity modulators provide more efficient modulation (i.e., lower Vπ or half-wave voltage) at the expense of higher frequency-chirp. Phase modulators are only offered as Z-cut devices because their single optical path does not benefit from the symmetry of the X-cut design. The I/Q modulator fully exploits the advantages of symmetry as an X-cut device.
Z-cut devices are also capable of supporting both the ordinary and extraordinary optical modes, which have different modulation efficiencies. An integrated optical polarizer, positioned before the output port of the device, is included in all of our Z-cut intensity modulators and some of our Z-cut phase modulators as only one mode is desirable for most applications. While most applications benefit from the integrated polarizer, the LN53S-FC, LNP6119, and LNP4217 Z-cut phase modulators are offered for applications where the polarizer is undesirable.
The modulators come with a polarization-maintaining (PM) input fiber pigtail and a single-mode (SM) output fiber pigtail that are terminated with FC/PC connectors. The PM fiber is keyed to the slow axis, which is also aligned to the extraordinary mode of the modulator. Please note that custom options for PM output fiber pigtails and FC/APC connectors are available for all LiNbO3 modulators.
All the fiber-coupled LiNbO3 modulators offered below are compatible with Thorlabs' EO modulator drivers. Their fiber-coupled tunable lasers provide an ideal O-band, C-band, or L-band source for use with these modulators. For all-in-one solutions in high-speed fiber optic test and measurement, they offer reference transmitters, optical transmitter with phase modulators, and calibrated electrical-to-optical converters.