Patent ID: 8346028

Claim:
An optical device, comprising: a waveguide on a base, the waveguide configured to guide a light signal through a light-transmitting medium; and a modulator positioned on the base, the modulator including an electro-absorption medium having lateral sides that each extends between a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side being between the base and the top side, the electro-absorption medium configured to receive at least a portion of the light signal from the light-transmitting medium in the waveguide, the light-transmitting medium and the electro-absorption medium being different materials, field sources configured to serve as sources of an electrical field in the electro-absorption medium, the electro-absorption medium being a medium in which the Franz-Keldysh effect occurs in response to the formation of the electrical field in the electro-absorption medium, the field sources each being a doped region of the electro-absorption medium and the field sources each contacting one of the lateral sides and the lateral sides that are contacted by the field sources being on opposing sides of the electro-absorption medium.