Second-order optical non-linearity of proton exchanged lithium tantalate waveguides

A detailed correlation between the fabrication conditions, crystallographic phase state of H_xLi_1-xTaO₃ waveguides and second-order optical non-linearity has been investigated by using reflected SHG measurements from the polished waveguide end face. The non-linearity, strongly reduced after the initial proton exchange, is found to be restored and even increased after annealing. However, this apparent increase in the non-linearity is accompanied by a strong degradation of the quality of the SHG reflected beam in the region of the initial as-exchanged waveguide due to beam scattering. The high temperature proton exchange technique has been shown to produce high-quality α-phase waveguides with essentially undegraded non-linear optical properties. There is no phase transition when the α-phase waveguides are fabricated by direct exchange. This phase presents the same crystalline structure as that of LiTaO₃ and maintains the excellent non-linear properties of the bulk material. The results obtained are important for the design, fabrication and optimization of guided-wave non-linear optical devices in LiTaO₃. Received: 21 May 2001 / Published online: 23 October 2001     

Acoustic properties of proton exchanged LiNbO3 investigated by Brillouin scattering

The propagation of surface acoustic waves at microwave frequencies (10¹⁰ Hz) was studied on proton exchanged LiNbO₃ crystals by means of Brillouin scattering. The proton exchange causes a large velocity reduction for surface acoustic waves propagating in the x–y plane of ay-cut crystal as well as for longitudinal bulk acoustic waves travelling in the proton exchanged sub-surface region. The velocity reduction amounts to about 20% for both types of waves. The corresponding elastic constants are reduced even by about 40% since the density remains almost constant. This softening seems to involve both the shear and compressional elastic constants, but in an anisotropic way.Thus by proton exchange it is possible to build acoustic waveguides adjacent to the surface, similar to the construction of optical waveguides. By a lateral control of the proton exchange rate optical elements for ultrasonic waves, for example, acoustic lenses can be produced without deformation of the flat surface.The absorption of surface acoustic waves on proton exchanged surfaces is stronger than on pure LiNbO₃ indicating a novel absorption mechanism becoming active in the proton exchanged material.     

离子交换玻璃波导1×8多模干涉光功分器的研制

利用三维有限差分光束传输法 ( 3 D-FDBPM)对渐变折射率波导中自镜象效应进行分析与模拟 ,在此基础上 ,利用 K+ -Na+ 离子交换在国产 K9光学玻璃上制作了 1× 8多模干涉( MMI)光功分器 ,测试表明 ,该器件初步实现了光均分功能 .     

Design and comparison of single-mode planar and ridge type electro-optic waveguide modulators

Electro-optic waveguide modulators utilizing phase retardation of two orthogonally polarized optical modes in LiNbO₃ and LiTaO₃ waveguides have been designed taking into consideration the optical field distribution in the waveguides and the electrical properties of the electrodes. The analysis has revealed that a driving-voltage to frequency-bandwidth ratio of 1 V/GHz is attainable at the wavelength of 1.05 m using presently available embedded and ridge waveguides. Improvement in waveguide fabrication techniques may reduce the ratio by at least a half. Thus, LiNbO₃ and LiTaO₃ waveguide modulators are considered to be promising candidates for practical application to single-mode optical-fibre transmission systems of higher than 1 Gbit/s.     

Widely tunable electrooptic pulse-pattern generation and its application to on-wafer large-signal characterization of ultra high-speed electronic devices

A pulse-rate-tunable, electrooptic pulse-pattern generator and a wideband high-efficiency optical-to-electrical (OE) conversion stimulus probe have been developed. Sinusoidal electrooptic amplitude/phase modulation and chirp compensation were used to provide picosecond pulsation, and the relationship between pulse-rate tunability and the extinction ratio has been studied analytically and experimentally. Return-to-zero (RZ) pylse patterns of 10–72 Gb s^–1 have been generated by using LiNbO₃ amplitude/phase modulators with a bandwidth of 18 GHz, a single dispersion shifted fibre, and a time-division multiplexer. A 1.55 m waveguide p-i-n photodiode yielded high responsivity (0.75 A W^–1) and a saturation peak voltage of 200 mV at the probe tip. The measured effective 3 dB bandwidth exceeds 50 GHz, which is currently limited by the frequency dispersion of the coplaner waveguide (CPW) used in the probe. Use of this generator and probe, in combination with electrooptic sampling, for on-wafer characterization of a broadband distributed amplifier revealed the amplifier's saturation characteristics and waveform distortion under actual operating conditions with a 64 Gb s^–1, 120 mV per probe, RZ pulse-pattern input.     

Phase transition study of H:LiNbO3 waveguides by Raman spectroscopy

New results on Raman spectra of protonated LiNbO₃ are reported in order to clarify the structural and compositional changes in waveguide layers during proton exchange and post-exchange annealing processes. Samples with different degree of Li-H substitution exchanged in either neat or buffered benzoic and pyrophosphoric acid melts are investigated providing Raman and optical measurements simultaneously. The question of phase state of protonated layers at slow and rapid cooling after the annealing procedure is discussed. Qualitative and quantitative agreement between the structural data reported earlier for proton-exchanged powders and the Raman data obtained for protonated single crystals is established. A new band at 69 cm^–1 is observed which is strongly intensity dependent upon the hydrogen presence in waveguide layers. By using this band the degree of proton exchange is determined for different treatment conditions of the samples.     

Acoustooptic extension of the frequency tunability of CW CO2 lasers: New FIR lasers emissions from CH3OH and13CH3OH

We have increased the frequency tunability of our CW waveguide CO₂ lasers by means of an acoustooptic amplitude modulator, operating at the fixed frequency of 90 MHz. The up-shifted, or down-shifted, laser optical sideband can be generated independently by adjusting the orientation of the modulator. The efficiency is larger than 50%. The frequency tunability of the CO₂ laser around each laser line is thus increased by 180 MHz. To demonstrate the possibilities of this method, a source composed of the above modulator and of a CW, 300 MHz tunable waveguide CO₂ laser has been used for the search of new large offset FIR laser lines from optically pumped CH₃OH and¹³CH₃OH molecules. As a result 15 and 10 new large offset laser lines were discovered respectively. New assignments of some laser lines are also proposed. We have also measured the Stark effect, the offset, and the polarization of other already known lines. In particular a Stark effect frequency tuning of about 1 GHz is demonstrated for a laser line at 208.399 m.     

Optical waveguides in LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and stoichiometric LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> crystals by proton exchange

The formation of optical planar waveguides in LiNbO₃ and stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystals by proton exchange was reported. The prism-coupling method was used to characterize the dark-line spectroscopy at the wavelength of 633 and 1539 nm, respectively. The mode optical near-field outputs from proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ and SLN waveguides at 633 nm were presented. The mode field from stoichiometric LiNbO₃ (SLN) waveguide is lighter and more uniform than that from LiNbO₃ waveguide, which means the quality of the waveguide in SLN crystal is better than that of the LiNbO₃ waveguide. For proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ waveguides, the evolution of the refractive index profile with annealing was presented. The disorder profiles of Nb atoms in proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ waveguides were obtained by Rutherford backscattering/channeling technique. It is shown that the longer the exchange time, the larger the displacement of Nb atoms. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10475052) and the Scientific Research Start-up Financing of Qufu Normal University     

Design of 1480-nm diode-pumped Er3+-doped integrated optical amplifiers

Abstact Erbium-doped Y₂O₃ integrated optical amplifiers are designed for low-threshold operation and 3 dB amplification. The most important design parameter for minimal threshold, the erbium concentration, is found to have an optimum value of 0.35 at% for a given waveguide structure with 1.0 dB cm^-1 background loss. The corresponding threshold power is 7 mW. The pump power to obtain 3 dB gain is found to be 22 mW for an amplifier with an optimum erbium concentration of 0.6 at% and 2.8 cm length. At 30 mW pump power the maximum gain is shown to be 5 dB.Designing is done using a comprehensive numerical model of an erbium-doped integrated optical amplifier. In the model two-dimensional intensity-dependent overlap integrals are used, which allow arbitrary erbium dopant profiles and waveguide crosssections. Concentration-dependent effects such as quenching and upconversion are also included in the model.Input parameters for the model are determined from measurements on an unoptimized Er: Y₂O₃ optical waveguide amplifier. Amplification simulations and gain measurements of the unoptimized waveguides are found to be in close agreement, providing a sound basis for the design calculations.     

Experimental study of a broad-band XeCl double-pass amplifier with SBS mirror

An oscillator-amplifier XeCl laser system has been used to experimentally investigate the effectiveness of a liquid stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) mirror for correcting the spatial aberrations of broad-band laser radiation in a double-pass amplifier. It has been found that the SBS amplifier performance is strongly dependent on the intensity I _p exciting the Brillouin medium. A good beam reconstruction has been attained at I _p1GW/cm², whereas highly aberrated output beams have been delivered by the SBS amplifier for I _p>1 GW/cm². By comparing the broad-band SBS amplifier performance to that of the same amplifier with a dielectrically coated flat mirror at one end, it has been found that the use of a SBS mirror is advantageous to obtain lower divergence output beams only for low energy pump beams (<1 mJ).     

Exchange of transverse plasmons and electrical conductivity of neutron star cores

We study the electrical conductivity in magnetized neutron star cores produced by collisions between charged particles. We take into account the ordinary exchange of longitudinal plasmons and the exchange of transverse plasmons in collisions between particles. The exchange of transverse plasmons is important for collisions between relativistic particles, but it has been disregarded previously when calculating the electrical conductivity. We show that taking this exchange into account changes the electrical conductivity, including its temperature dependence (thus, for example, the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity along the magnetic field in the low-temperature limit takes the form ?_‖ ∝ T ^5/3 instead of the standard dependence ?_‖ ∝ T ² for degenerate Fermi systems). We briefly describe the effect of possible neutron and proton superfluidity in neutron star cores on the electrical conductivity and discuss various scenarios for the evolution of neutron star magnetic fields.     

Optical beam splitter and focuser in Ti:LiNbO3 planar waveguide

A -type two-electrode system on a Ti diffused optical waveguide in LiNbO₃ has been studied in symmetrical and in asymmetrical operation regimes. In the first case the device acts as a beam splitter or focuser, depending on the polarity of the applied voltage. In the second case the device acts as a scanner. The driving voltage is relatively low. Possible applications are optical communication systems and optical processing of information.     

Analysis and simulation on the performance of a gyro-penitron amplifier

A cylindrical waveguide gyro-peniotron amplifier is analysed theoretically in this paper. By a ballistic method and directly using the energy conservation in the beam-wave system, a set of interaction equations for the cylindrical waveguide gyro-peniotron amplifier is derived. Computer simulation shows that under defined conditions an interaction efficiency of 47%, an output power of 240kW at a gain of 22. 5 dB and a 3 dB-instantaneous bandwidth of 1. 9% for a central frequency of 35GHz, TE₀₃ mode gyro-peniotron amplifier could be achieved. The influence of the operation parameters on the amplifier performance is also presented.     

Temperature stabilized optical waveguide modulator

A low drive-voltage optical modulator using a Ti-diffused UNbO₃ optical waveguide has been fabricated. Stabilization against ambient temperature change was realized by using a miniature halfwave plate. The halfwave voltage, 3 dB bandwidth, optical insertion loss and extinction ratio were 3·8 V (at 1·06m wavelength), 850 MHz, 10 dB and 13 dB, respectively. A reduction scheme for the optical absorption caused by metallic electrodes, and an analysis of the modulator high frequency response are also reported.     

A new efficient far-infrared optically pumped laser gas: CH3 18OH

The¹²CH₃ ¹⁸OH molecule has been investigated for new far-infrared laser lines by optically pumping it with a cw waveguide CO₂ laser. The larger tunability (318 MHz) with respect to a conventional CO₂ laser permits the pumping of many¹²CH₃ ¹⁸OH lines. As a consequence 100 new laser lines have been discovered, ranging from 34.6 m to 653.2 m in wavelength. The infrared spectrum of¹²CH₃ ¹⁸OH has been observed and all the fundamental vibration energies measured.     

Broadband single-transverse-mode fluorescence sources based on ribs fabricated in pulsed laser deposited Ti:sapphire waveguides

Active rib waveguides with depths and widths varying from 3 to 5 m and from 9 to 24 m, respectively, have been structured by Ar⁺-beam etching in pulsed laser deposited Ti:sapphire layers. Losses in the channel structures were essentially at the same levels as the unstructured planar waveguide host, therefore suggesting that there is no significant additional contribution to loss from the rib-fabrication procedure. Measurements of the beam-propagation factors, M_x² and M_y², indicate single-transverse-mode fluorescence emission. The fluorescence output power was in the order of 300 W when the structures were pumped by a 3-W multiline argon laser. These characteristics make the rib structures suitable as light sources for optical coherence tomography applications and facilitate their coupling to the optical fibre interferometers of such systems. PACS 42.70.Hj; 42.82.Et; 42.79.Gn; 81.15.Fg; 42.30.Wb     

Photochromic behaviour of doped Bi4Ge3O12 single crystal scintillators

The changes induced by ultraviolet (UV) illumination on the optical absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ single crystals, doped either with Fe (and Gd) or Mn, have been followed at room temperature (RT). In both crystals several overlapping optical absorption bands develop under UV illumination, covering from 0.7 eV up to the band edge of the matrix. The optical damage can be bleached by heating the samples above RT or by illumination with visible light. Although these optical changes temporarily correlate with the variation of the Gd³⁺ and Mn²⁺ concentrations, it has been concluded that other defects are present and partially responsible for the optical damage.     

Hyperfine structure of the energy levels of the 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Subscript>3/2</Subscript> state of the Li-, B-, and N-like <Stack><Subscript>83</Subscript><Superscript>209</Superscript></Stack>Bi ions

The lowest order corrections, considering the electron-electron interaction, to the hyperfine structure of the energy levels of the Li-, B-, and N-like ₈₃ ²⁰⁹ BI ions in the 2p _3/2 state are calculated. The contributions of the magnetic dipole moment, electric quadrupole moment, and magnetic octupole moment are taken into account. The dynamic proton model is used, in which an electron interacts with a valence proton of a nucleus via photon exchange. In this model, the distribution of the electric and magnetic moments in a nucleus is taken into account automatically.     

Experimental investigation of the MIR optically pumped ammonia bidirectional ring laser

We have studied the Doppler-broadened 11.76 m ¹⁵NH₃ emission line optically pumped in a ring resonator by a cw CO₂ laser operating on the 10R(42) line. In the pure ammonia, even if the pumping occurs inside the Doppler width, the two-photon Raman process seems to be responsible for the laser emission. Both in the pure ¹⁵NH₃ and in the ¹⁵NH₃, N₂, and He mixture we demonstrate the possibility of obtaining a unidirectional laser amplifier.This work has been supported by Direction des Recherches Etudes et Techniques under contract No. 87/222     

Optical-gyroscope application of efficient crossed-channel acoustooptic devices

An acoustooptic (AO) deflector/modulator using a single-mode crossed-channel waveguide of 2n type and an interdigital transducer is fabricated in aY-Z LiNbO₃ substrate. This module has shown a high diffraction efficiency. A 50% diffraction efficiency and a bandwidth of 13.4 MHz were obtained with 0.13 W of surface-acoustic wave power centered at 320MHz. Since the cross section of the channel waveguide and that of the optical fiber are comparable, the interfacting of the resultant acoustooptic devices with fiber optical systems would greatly simplified. In addition, the frequency-shifted optical beam can be conveniently used as a reference signal or local oscillator in heterodyne detection. Consequently, this cross-channel acoustooptic device should find a variety of applications in realizing an integrated-optics module with a 50–50% power slit, optical communication, and an optical fiber system. One of those applications, optical gyroscopes, is proposed by using this kind of crossed-channel AO device.