Analysis of velocity-matched Ti:LiNbO3 optical intensity modulators with an extended point-matching method

The point-matching method has been extended to analyse a travelling-wave electrode structure for shielded velocity-matched Ti:LiNbO₃ Mach-Zehnder optical modulators. This method provides a simple and fast approach to analysing the coplanar waveguide with buffer layer, cover shield, and electrodes of finite thickness. The calculated characteristic impedances and microwave effective indices agree well with those obtained using the spectral domain technique and the finite-element method. It is found that in the coplanar waveguide without cover shield it is difficult to achieve velocity matching. The coplanar waveguide with cover shield can be used to achieve velocity matching, but the corresponding characteristic impedance is lower than 50. Both velocity matching and impedance matching can be obtained using a narrow centre electrode. The calculated electric field has been used to estimate the modulation efficiency of the device. Velocity matching can be achieved by adjusting the height of the cover shield, but a compromise must be made between high interaction efficiency and low microwave reflection when choosing the buffer layer thickness and the electrode thickness.     

Tunable plasmonic filter with circular metal–insulator– metal ring resonator containing double narrow gaps

Tunable filter based on two metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguides coupled to each other by a ring resonator with double narrow gaps is designed and numerically investigated by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The propagating modes of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are studied. By introducing narrow gaps in ring resonators, the transmission in different resonance modes can be effectively adjusted by changing the gap width (g), and the transmitted peak wavelength has a nonlinear relationship with g. Another structure consisting two cascading ring resonators and regular MIM waveguide have also been proposed. The mechanism based on circular ring resonators with narrow gaps may provide a novel method for designing all-optical integrated components in optical communication and computing.     

Guide/antiguide optical intensity modulator

An electrorefractive index-controllable guide/antiguide optical intensity modulator has been created and characterized. The operating mechanism, beam propagation method simulation, device design and fabrication, and calculated and experimental results of this guide/antiguide modulator are given. The operational principle of the modulator is based on the field-induced waveguide (FIG) concept; that is, electric-field-induced refractive index changes cause the waveguide to be turned on and off electrically. The modulator is formed with a central narrow FIG electrode sandwiched between two antiguide electrodes. The electrooptic effects, along with carrier effects, have been exploited to adjust the refractive index under the guide and adjacent antiguide electrodes by changing reverse biases applied to them. The modulation is determined mainly by changing the lateral refractive index profiles. In the on state, a waveguide is formed under the central electrode, and the input light propagates along this waveguide. To realize the best off state, an antiguide situation is created that causes the light to diffract out of the central guide rapidly. An on/off ratio larger than 23 dB, a propagation loss 1 dB, and a record optical bandwidth from 1.0 to 1.55 m have been obtained for this modulator.     

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.     

Integral plug-in RF module in a CO2 hybrid-waveguide laser: Its performance and overall evaluation

This work describes the performance of a compact “in-house built” radio–frequency (RF)-excited CO₂ slab waveguide laser which has the innovation of having a plugged-in RF generator–amplifier module directly connected into the positive electrode of the laser head. The design circuit parameters include a matching circuit and a feed-through element as a whole. The overall laser performance takes into account the waveguide dimension (y-axis) as approximately one-tenth of the free space transverse dimension (x-axis). The optical resonator is calculated to be in the regime of the negative branch for unstable confocal resonators, having focal lengths of and with geometrical amplification of 1.108. Optical output coupling mirror was set to 9.7%. The calculated waveguide length is 37.73 cm whilst the total resonator length was adjusted to 42 cm to allow coupling losses less than 1%. The laser operational efficiency was about 12% and the output beam quality of 1.13 which is close to the ideal Gaussian beam. The optical output power was accomplished by playing with different gas compositions to have a final optimized gas proportion of 1:1:2.7:0.3 correspondingly to CO₂, N₂, He and Xe as admixture.     

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.     

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.     

Modelling of 980 nm pumped EDWAs: Spectroscopic variations associated to fabrication process

In this work the optical amplification, in the small signal regime, at 1.5 m in Zn-diffused, proton exchange and reverse proton exchange Er³⁺-doped waveguide amplifiers (EDWAs) based on LiNbO₃ under 980 nm excitation has been modelled, including the dominant up-conversion channel activated by this pumping wavelength. The overlapping integrals method has been used to investigate how the spectroscopic changes, induced by the waveguide fabrication technique, affect the optical amplifier performance. In particular, it has been found that either the amplifier threshold and the maximum gain achievable are spectroscopy-dependent and therefore fabrication-dependent.     

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.     

基于模式匹配法的平面波导光场分布分析

采用模式匹配法,对一个三段平面光波导结构的光场分布进行了计算机模拟,数值模拟结果正确地反映了一个宽波导与一个窄波导衔接后,在两者交接处的光波场泄露.该方法可用于分析结构更加复杂的光波导器件.     

On the efficiency of small-angle Čerenkov second harmonic generation in optical waveguides

It is well known that in the non-depleted pump approximation, the efficiency of a second harmonic generation (SHG) of a guided mode in a non-linear optical waveguide increases quadratically with the interaction length (P ₂ L ²), and linearly (P ₂ L) in the erenkov regime. The efficiency of the erenkov SHG in the waveguide with a non-linear substrate and linear guiding layer is known to be strongly peaked at a particular pump wavelength and a particular waveguide thickness, with the erenkov angle approaching zero. The known theory predicts an infinite efficiency value at the peak, however. In this contribution, a simple integral expression for the SHG efficiency in the erenkov regime is derived. For large erenkov angles and interaction lengths it yields the expected P ₂ L dependence, while in the limit of small erenkov angles the dependence is found to have the form of P L ^3/2, possessing also a finite value at the efficiency peak. The condition determining the accurate position of the efficiency peak in the waveguide thickness–pump wavelength plane is given, too.     

Improved method for loss measurements in planar waveguides

A method employing an isosceles prism and a right-angle one is developed for loss measurement in planar waveguides. During the measuring process, the isosceles prism is fixed and the right-angle prism fixed on the waveguide slides by following the waveguide. Only by adjusting the gap thickness we can realize the loss measurement in planar waveguides. The method is demonstrated with an Ag/Na ion-exchanged waveguide fabricated on BK7 glass from AgNO₃ melt diluted with NaNO₃ (mass ratio 1:9), with the condition of 4 h and . The experimental results show that the method has the advantages on convenient operation, accurate results and no required end polishing.     

Factors affecting optical dispersion in borate glass systems

Series of ternary glass systems namely, Na₂O, B₂O₃, and RO (R=Ba or Mg) doped with TiO₂ are synthesized. The present glasses are dictated by requirement for a small refractive index and a small nonlinear coefficient needed for waveguide and laser fabrication requirements. The effect of MgO and BaO as alkaline earth metals on the optical properties of the glass systems is investigated. The dependence of the refractive index and extinction coefficient dispersion curves on composition is carried out over a wavelength range of 0.3-. Applying a genetic algorithm technique, the parameters of Sellmeier dispersion formula that fit index data to accuracy consistent well with the measurements are given. The zero material dispersion-wavelength (ZMDW) and group velocity are also determined using the refractive index data. The Fermi level is calculated exploiting the extinction coefficient dispersion curves. The absorption coefficient, both direct and indirect optical energy gaps, and Urbach energy are evaluated using the absorption edge calculations. The different factors that play a role for controlling the refractive indices such as coordination number, electronic polarizability, field strength of cations, bridging and nonbridging oxygen, and optical basicity are discussed in accordance with the obtained index data. IR spectroscopy is used as a structural probe of the nearest-neighbor environment in the glass network.     

Efficient coupling of hybrid optical waveguide with a sharp bend structure for high integration

A hybrid optical waveguide with a \(90^{\circ }\) sharp bend comprising a dielectric straight waveguide, a tapered dielectric strip waveguide, and a microscale metal gap waveguide is proposed, modeled, fabricated, and characterized with the aim of improving the efficiency of light coupling between the dielectric and plasmonic waveguides. The simulation result using the full-vector finite-difference time domain shows a total transmissivity of about 63 % at a wavelength of 1,550 nm. A set of hybrid optical waveguide with a \(90^{\circ }\) bend is fabricated via the two-step photolithography and a metal lift-off process. From the measured result for the characteristics of the fabricated hybrid optical waveguide, the transmission loss was estimated to be about 17 dB, which is in stark contrast with the simulation value. Nevertheless, such a novel coupling scheme may be of potential use in high-density photonic integration applications.     

Microwave dielectric properties of Ba(Zn<Subscript>1/3</Subscript>Ta<Subscript>2 / 3</Subscript>)O<Subscript>3</Subscript> for application in high power waveguide window

Higher dielectric constant, low dielectric loss and good transmission characteristicshave been the goal for developing the ceramic waveguide window for high power windowapplications. The choice of materials having high k with low dielectric lossand reduced window size is key parameters to achieve maximum microwave transmissionwithout unleashing microwave dissipation. The microwave dielectric properties ofsynthesized Ba(Zn_1/3Ta_{2 /3})O₃ (BZT) ceramics have been studied for high power windowapplications. The structural studies are correlated with microwave dielectric propertiesof BZT. The maximum values of dielectric constant ?_r =30, Q ×f₀ = 102 THz and near zero temperaturecoefficient of resonance frequency were obtained for BZT ceramics sintered at thetemperature of 1550 °Cfor 4 h. The measured results are used to design a tapered transition from air filledwaveguide to narrow (reduced width and height) dielectric filled waveguide using Heckenslinear taper at a specific frequency. The simulation result shows that the lowerreflection loss is obtained for the tapered transition of the narrow BZT window ascompared to the standard waveguide BZT window. The return loss of –34 dB is obtained forS-bandwaveguide window with a bandwidth of 675 MHz. The return loss observed in the narrow BZTwindow is –46 dB with a bandwidth of 570 MHz at a center frequency of 3.63 GHz. Most ofthe disadvantages in conventional windows will be rectified using the design of the tapertransion employing narrow waveguide window in high power applications.     

Photoacoustic detection of heat generation in proton-implanted Nd:YAG waveguides with and without laser operation

In this work the heat generation in proton-implanted planar Nd:YAG waveguides with and without laser action is determined by using photoacoustic techniques. From the analysis of the photoacoustic signal in the two emission regimes (stimulated and spontaneous) as a function of the absorbed power, it was found that the heat generated is substantially reduced during laser action. The quotient of the heat generated in both emission channels (stimulated and spontaneous) was found to be S_stimulated/S_spontaneous=0.65±0.03. This value is in agreement with the theoretical estimation considering a Nd³⁺ quantum efficiency _waveguide=0.78, extracted from the lifetime measured in the waveguide, slightly lower than the value in the bulk. This work demonstrates that photoacoustic measurements provide a sensitive method to characterize the performance of waveguide lasers. PACS 42.79.Gn; 42.82.Et; 42.60.Lh; 43.60.+d     

High-efficiency optical coupling to planar photodiode using metal reflector loaded waveguide grating coupler

For the realization of optoelectronic integrated circuits, it is required to incident light perpendicularly to a planar Si photodiode. We propose a high-efficient vertical optical coupler using an amorphous Si optical waveguide grating coupler with top reflector, which is transparent at 850 nm wavelength range. The optical waveguide (width of 300 nm $\times $ height of 100 nm) coupler is analyzed by using finite element method. The coupling efficiency of 80 % is calculated at the grating period of 380 nm, the duty ratio of 0.75 and the depth of 35–65 nm with top metal reflector.     

Effect of electron-optical phonon interaction on resonant tunneling in coupled quantum wells

The spatial distribution of the wave functions for electrons in a coupled-quantum-well system of GaAs/Al _x Ga_1?x As with triple barriers is discussed. Within the framework of the dielectric continuum model, the dispersion relations of interface optical phonon modes are given. Furthermore, the interaction between an electron and optical phonons and the ternary mixed crystal effect in these structures are investigated in detail. The optical phonon-assisted tunneling (PAT) is studied using the Fermi golden rule to obtain numerically the PAT currents. The results reveal that the interface optical phonons are more important than the confined longitudinal optical phonons. Only one PAT peak does appear when the middle barrier is wide enough or its Al component is high enough, and the peak moves to the higher applied voltage direction, whereas two PAT peaks do appear when the middle barrier is narrow enough or its Al component is low enough.     

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.