Development of ultra-low power consumption semiconductor optical modulator integrated with antenna for next-generation radio-over-fiber systems

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H01841
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 30020:Optical engineering and photon science-related
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: Arakawa Taro 横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 教授 (40293170)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 村田 博司 三重大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (20239528) ; 國分 泰雄 ものつくり大学, その他の部局, 学長 (60134839)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 光変調器 / 半導体 / 光ファイバー無線 / 量子井戸 / アンテナ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objective of this project is to develop a compound semiconductor quantum well optical modulator integrated with a metallic antenna that can be driven only by the receiving electric field of a millimeter wave signal (60 GHz band) without power supply, and to demonstrate its potential for radio-over-fiber (RoF) applications.
We have designed and fabricated a unique semiconductor potential-controlled quantum well structure (five-layer asymmetrically coupled quantum wells) optimized for RoF modulators. A phase modulator with this quantum well structure as the core layer was fabricated and integrated with an array of aluminum antennas to realize a highly efficient optical modulator. The modulation efficiency was significantly improved by 14 dB compared to conventional semiconductor RoF modulators. In addition, demodulation experiments of 60 GHz wireless signals were successfully conducted.

Free Research Field

光エレクトロニクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

我々が独自に開発してきた量子ナノ構造である五層非対称結合量子井戸を用いて初めて受信電界のみで動作する高効率アレイアンテナ集積半導体光変調器が実現できた点で、学術的意義を有する。
本研究により、小型、低消費電力で大量生産に対応できる無線信号-光信号変換半導体光変調器が実現できることが示された。次世代移動体通信ネットワークで必要な基地局の増大に対応でき、その発展に大いに貢献できる。さらに、本成果は今後の世代の光無線通信技術に広く応用することができ、第６世代以降の移動体通信技術の普及をはじめ、光と無線をシームレスにつなぐ各種システムの発展に貢献する。