Driving circuit for optical modulator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10345627-B2
Application number	US-201815876870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2018
Priority date	Jan 25, 2017
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

In an exemplary embodiment, a plurality of differential amplification circuits has: first differential amplification circuits each including a differential pair circuit to generate the differential signal according to the differential input signal, a delay line, and a current source to supply a current to the differential pair circuit via the delay line; and second differential amplification circuits each including a differential pair circuit to generate the differential signal according to the differential input signal, and a current source to directly supply a current to the differential pair circuit. The first differential amplification circuits and the second differential amplification circuits are mutually connected in parallel between the pair of input-side transmission lines and the pair of output-side transmission lines.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driving circuit for driving an optical modulator comprising:
differential input terminals configured to receive a differential input signal from an outside;
a pair of input-side transmission lines configured to transmit the differential input signal received through the differential input terminals;
a plurality of differential amplification circuits configured to receive the differential input signal through the pair of input-side transmission lines, to amplify the differential input signal and to output respective amplified differential input signals as differential signals, the plurality of differential amplification circuits consisting of a plurality of first differential amplification circuits and a plurality of second differential amplification circuits, each first differential amplification circuit including a first differential pair circuit to generate one of the differential signals according to the differential input signal, a delay line to delay a passing signal, and a first current source to supply a first current to the first differential pair circuit via the delay line, each second differential amplification circuit including a second differential pair circuit to generate one of the differential signals according to the differential input signal, and a second current source to directly supply a second current to the second differential pair circuit;
a pair of output-side transmission lines configured to transmit the differential signals output from the plurality of differential amplification circuits; and
differential output terminals configured to mutually superpose the differential signals output from the plurality of differential amplification circuits for outputting a superposed signal to the outside,
wherein the plurality of first differential amplification circuits and the plurality of second differential amplification circuits are mutually connected in parallel between the pair of input-side transmission lines and the pair of output-side transmission lines.

2. The driving circuit according to claim 1 , wherein a number of the first differential amplification circuits is equal to a number of the second differential amplification circuits.

3. The driving circuit according to claim 2 , wherein the first differential amplification circuits are disposed adjacent to each other by a number of the first differential amplification circuits along the input-side transmission lines, and
the second differential amplification circuits are disposed adjacent to each other by a number of the second differential amplification circuits along the input-side transmission lines.

4. The driving circuit according to claim 2 , wherein the first differential amplification circuits and the second differential amplification circuits are each disposed alternately along the input-side transmission lines.

5. The driving circuit according to claim 1 , wherein a difference between the number of the first differential amplification circuits and the number of the second differential amplification circuits is one.

6. The driving circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the delay line in each first differential amplification circuit has a delay time set so that a phase of a common-mode signal generated by each second differential amplification circuit is different from a phase of a common-mode signal generated by each first differential amplification circuit.

7. The driving circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the delay line in each first differential amplification circuit includes a transmission line having the set delay time that corresponds to a difference between the phase of a common-mode signal generated by each second differential amplification circuit and the phase of a common-mode signal generated by each first differential amplification circuit.

8. The driving circuit according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a voltage circuit configured to receive an adjustment voltage from the outside and to generate an internal voltage according to the adjustment voltage; and
a resistive element,
wherein the first current source of each first differential amplification circuit and the second current source of each second differential amplification circuit receive the internal voltage from the voltage circuit via the resistive element.

9. The driving circuit according to claim 8 ,
wherein the first current source varies the first current according to the internal voltage received via the resistive element, and
the second current source varies the second current according to the internal voltage received via the resistive element.

10. A driving circuit for driving an optical modulator comprising:
differential input terminals configured to receive a differential input signal from an outside;
a pair of input-side transmission lines configured to transmit the differential input signal received by the differential input terminals;
a plurality of differential amplification circuits each including a current source to supply a source current and a differential pair circuit to split the source current according to the differential input signal received from the pair of input-side transmission lines and to generate a respective differential signal;
a pair of output-side transmission lines configured to transmit the respective differential signals output from the plurality of differential amplification circuits;
differential output terminals configured to mutually superpose the respective differential signals output from the plurality of differential amplification circuits with each other for outputting a superposed differential signal to the outside;
a voltage circuit configured to receive an adjustment voltage from the outside and to generate an internal voltage according to the adjustment voltage; and
a resistive element,
wherein the current source of each differential amplification circuit receives the internal voltage from the voltage circuit via the resistive element.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Electric Industries

Inventors

• Tatsumi Taizo

Classifications

• H03F2203/45612

  the IC comprising one or more input source followers as input stages in the IC · CPC title

• G02F1/00

  Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics · CPC title

• G02F1/0123 Primary

  Circuits for the control or stabilisation of the bias voltage, e.g. automatic bias control [ABC] feedback loops · CPC title

• H03F3/68

  Combinations of amplifiers, e.g. multi-channel amplifiers for stereophonics {(power amplifiers using a combination of several semiconductor amplifiers H03F3/211; combinations of amplifiers using coupling networks with distributed constants H03F3/602)} · CPC title

• G02F1/0327

  Operation of the cell; Circuit arrangements (G02F1/05 takes precedence) · CPC title