Patent ID: 8818141

Claim:
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer having a balanced output, comprising: a slotted wave guide having at least two silicon elements defining a slot therebetween, said at least two silicon elements having an electro-optically active material disposed within said slot, and configured to apply an electromagnetic field to said electro-optically active material, said slotted waveguide configured as a first arm of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and an optical fiber configured as a second arm of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer; an optical input port of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer configured to receive an optical signal comprising a signal component having a signal amplitude Psig and a power component having a power amplitude Pamp, said optical input port configured to apply said signal component to said first arm of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer and configured to apply said power component to said second arm of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer; an optical output port of said Mach-Zehnder interferometer configured to provide a balanced optical output signal; and an electrical input port configured to receive an input electrical signal having a radio frequency component with instantaneous amplitude V, and having a driver configured to apply said radio frequency signal component as a data signal relative to a ground signal to said at least one of said silicon elements of said slotted wave guide.