[caption id="attachment_3109" align="alignleft" width="300"] Instensity-and-chirp-temporal-parameters-of-a-MZI-modulator[/caption]

The discussion exposed in this paper is based on a synthesis of several elements collected in some publications dealing with fundamental characteristics of Mach-Zehnder electro-optic travelling wave intensity modulators. We draw an analysis of the optical response of these modulators to a time varying drive voltage, modelised after a description of their technological conception. Then we review the important parameters to study for the use of these modulators in optical transmissions (optical response bandwidth, chirp parameter). We present the properties of these parameters with respect to the previous analysis, and we show that they can be characterized independently using the Apex Technologies Optical Complex Spectrum Analyzer AP2441B/AP2443B, which is of great importance to analyse the performances of such modulators in long haul transmissions.

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