We report modulation of the absorption coefficient at 1:3 μm in Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well heterostructures on silicon via the quantum-confined Stark effect. Strain engineering was exploited to increase the direct optical bandgap in the Ge quantum wells. We grew 9 nm-thick Ge quantum wells on a relaxed Si 0:22 Ge 0:78 buffer and a contrast in the absorption coefficient of a factor of greater than 3.2 was achieved in the spectral range 1290-1315 nm. © 2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 230.4110, 230.4205, 250.4110, 250.5590, 260.6580. Existing silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators that exploit the carrier dispersion effect are typically either large and dissipate considerable amounts of power [1] or require the use of resonant cavities, which have temperature stabilization issues and are very sensitive to fabrication tolerances. The development of silicon-based electroabsorption modulators (EAMs) is desirable for emerging silicon photonics applications, including optical network interconnects and fibre-to-the-home, because such devices can have a small footprint, low power consumption, and good temperature stability. Several optical fiber telecommunications systems exploit the spectral 'window' around 1:3 μm, which corresponds to zero dispersion in standard single-mode fibers. In particular, some passive optical network (PON) architectures use 1:3 μm radiation for upstream signals [2]. Therefore, it is desirable to fabricate optical modulators that can operate at this wavelength. Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well (MQW) heterostructures can be epitaxially grown on silicon wafers using a relaxed buffer layer (see, e.g., [3]), where the alternating layers should be strain-balanced to the buffer layer so that no net strain accumulates in the MQW stack. Previous studies of the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in Ge/SiGe MQW structures have reported buffers layers with a Ge fraction of 90% or more [4][5][6][7]. Here, we describe absorption spectra for a strain-balanced stack of ten 9 nm thick Ge quantum wells and eleven 7 nm thick Si 0:4 Ge 0:6 barriers grown on a relaxed Si 0:22 Ge 0:78 buffer. The large compressive strain in the Ge quantum wells results in an increase in the direct bandgap compared with relaxed Ge, which results in a blue-shift of the absorption edge, and proper choice of the layer widths and compositions allows us to control the absorption edge of the structure [8].The MQW heterostructures were grown using reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) on a relaxed Si 0:22 Ge 0:78 buffer. The buffer was grown using reverse linear grading (RLG) from a relaxed Ge seed layer, which was grown on an Si substrate [9]. Further details of the epitaxial growth can be found in [10]. Circular mesa devices of 80 μm diameter were defined using optical lithography and reactive-ion etching and a Ti/Al metal stack was deposited and sintered at 400°C for 30 minutes to form electrical contacts. A schematic diagram of the cross section of the devices is shown in Fig. 1.Absorption spectra were inferred f...