We demonstrate a high-speed silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) with low insertion loss, based on the carrier depletion effect in a lateral PN junction. A 1.9 dB on-chip insertion loss and a V_πL_π < 2 V·cm were achieved in an MZM with a 750 μm-long phase shifter by properly choosing the doping concentration and precisely locating the junction. High-speed modulations up to 45–60 Gbit/s have been demonstrated with an additional 1.6 dB optical loss, indicating a total insertion loss of 3.5 dB. A high extinction ratio of 7.5 dB was also realized at the bit rate of 50 Gbit/s with an acceptable insertion loss of 6.5 dB.

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Electro-optic modulation up to $70\mathrm{Gbit}/\mathrm{s}$ has been demonstrated using a silicon Mach–Zehnder modulator with a bias voltage of $-1.5\mathrm{V}$. In a wide frequency range from DC, an increasing input impedance of the modulator was designed to equalize its electro-optic frequency response. Without a bias voltage, the 3 dB bandwidth was measured as 35 GHz and it is predicted to be as high as 55 GHz at $-3\mathrm{V}$ bias. Frequency responses of the modulator operated with counter-propagating waves were tested to verify the proposed prediction model.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a $2\times 2$ 3 dB adiabatic splitter based on silicon-on-insulator technology, with simultaneous tapering of the phase velocity and coupling. The advantages of the proposed splitter are indicated by analyzing the effective index evolution of the system modes and comparing them with the simulated performances. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulations. Over the 100 nm wavelength range measured, the output uniformity is better than 0.2 dB. A low and flat excess loss of about 0.3 dB per splitter is obtained, with a variation below 0.2 dB.

We present a double-inkjet printing method for the generation of picoliter droplet-in-oil arrays on planar substrates, efficiently addressing droplet evaporation issues without the assistance of a humidifier or glycerol.

We propose and demonstrate a fast and efficient silicon thermo-optic switch based on reverse breakdown of the pn junction. Benefiting from the direct heating of silicon waveguide by embedding the pn junction into the waveguide center, fast switching with on/off time of 330 and 450 ns and efficient thermal tuning of $0.12\mathrm{nm}/\mathrm{mW}$ for a 20 μm radius microring resonator are achieved, indicating a high figure of merit of only $8.8\mathrm{mW}·\mathrm{\mu s}$. The results here show great potential for application in the future optical interconnects.