The plasma dispersion effect and free-carrier absorption are widely used to change refractive index and absorption coefficient in Si-based optical modulators. However, the weak free-carrier effects in Si cause low modulation efficiency, resulting in large device footprint and power consumption. Here, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the enhancement of the free-carrier effects by strain-induced mass modulation in silicon-germanium (SiGe). The application of compressive strain to SiGe reduces the conductivity effective mass of holes, resulting in the enhanced free-carrier effects. Thus, the strained SiGe-based optical modulator exhibits more than twice modulation efficiency as large as that of the Si modulator. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the enhanced free-carrier effects in strained SiGe at the near-infrared telecommunication wavelength. The strain-induced enhancement technology for the free-carrier effects is expected to boost modulation efficiency of the most Si-based optical modulators thanks to high complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility.
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