Photonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator

This simulator renders the core building block of every fiber-optic transceiver: a silicon-photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator. Light splits into two on-chip waveguide arms, each carrying an electro-optic phase shifter (the highlighted electrodes), then recombines at a second coupler with two output ports. Because interference at the coupler depends only on the phase difference between the arms, sweeping the bias and RF drive voltage traces out the classic cos² transfer function — watch the bar-port output dim toward extinction as the operating point moves off quadrature, compare single-arm drive against the push-pull topology real chips use, and read the live output power, phase difference and extinction ratio as you tune it.