Radiation effects in silicon photonic modulators of the COTTONTAIL chip

Key Points

• This research aims to evaluate the effects of ionizing radiation on silicon photonic modulators in the COTTONTAIL chip.
• Conducted ex-situ experiments on ring and Mach-Zehnder modulators to measure degradation from radiation exposure.
• Assessed recovery using forward bias annealing after exposure to ionizing radiation.
• Prepared in-situ experiments for continuous monitoring during irradiation.
• Significant degradation observed in ring modulators after exposure to over 3 MGy of ionizing radiation.
• Forward bias annealing successfully restores most characteristics but retains a small penalty of up to 3 dB.
• Differences noted between low and high frequency behavior post-irradiation.