Because of their compact sizes and potential for low power consumption, microcavity modulators have attracted significant interest in recent years. Traditionally, it was thought that the benefits of resonant modulators come at the cost of limited modulation rates. I will show that the trade-off can be circumvented through an appropriate device design, and that it is possible to simultaneously leverage the advantages of resonant and non-resonant devices. These results are extended to the design of resonantly enhanced quadrature modulators and an experimental demonstration of high-speed laser modulation beyond the relaxation resonance frequency limit.

  Joyce Poon is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. She obtained the Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Caltech in 2007 and 2003 respectively, and the B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science (physics option) from the University of Toronto in 2002. She is the recipient of an Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award in 2009, an NSERC University Faculty Award in 2008, and the Clauser Doctoral Thesis Prize from Caltech in 2007. Her current research focus is the dynamics of active optical microcavities.