Full-wave modeling of piezoelectric transducers for SAW acousto-optical interactions

In this paper we present an accurate and efficient numerical method for a rigorous full-wave analysis of interdigital transducers (IDT) for the excitation of surface acoustic waves on the piezoelectric substrate of acousto-optical devices. The problem is formulated in terms of an integral equation that is solved by the method of moments. The transducer input admittance and the power coupling factors to both surface and bulk waves are computed. Numerical results for some configurations of X-Y LiNbO₃ IDT for acousto-optic applications are in very good agreement with measured data. It is pointed out that bulk wave excitation may be a serious limitation in the design of efficient, wide band transducers for acousto-optical devices.     

Two-dimensional x-ray beam phase sensing

We present a new method to analyze quantitatively the wave front of a partially coherent x-ray beam. The technique is based on the use of two-dimensional speckle patterns combined with digital image correlation algorithms and offers a pixel size resolution, a high accuracy, and a reduced sensitivity to mechanical vibrations thanks to a very simple setup. The requirements on transverse and longitudinal coherence are also low. Finally, we show how the method can be used for phase contrast imaging applications by a single sample exposure process.     

Diffractive–refractive optics: low‐aberration Bragg‐case focusing by precise parabolic surfaces

Based on analytical formulae calculations and ray‐tracing simulations a low‐aberration focal spot with a high demagnification ratio was predicted for a diffractive–refractive crystal optics device with parabolic surfaces. Two Si(111) crystals with two precise parabolic‐shaped grooves have been prepared and arranged in a dispersive position (+,?,?,+) with high asymmetry. Experimental testing of the device at beamline BM05 at the ESRF provided a focal spot size of 38.25 µm at a focal distance of 1.4 m for 7.31 keV. This is the first experiment with a parabolic‐shaped groove; all previous experiments were performed with circular grooves which introduced extreme aberration broadening of the focal spot. The calculated and simulated focal size was 10.8 µm at a distance of 1.1 m at 7.31 keV. It is assumed that the difference between the measured and calculated/simulated focal spot size and focal distance is due to insufficient surface quality and to alignment imperfection.     

Design, realisation and analysis of an apodised, film-loaded acousto-optic tunable filter

The design and realisation of a SiO₂ film-loaded Ti:LiNbO₃ integrated acousto-optic tunable filter are presented. An optimised Hamming apodisation is achieved through introducing an angular offset between the acoustic and optical waveguides along with carefully placed acoustic absorbers. The realised device has a 20-mm acoustic interaction length and achieves a 3-dB linewidth of 1.8 nm with 19-dB sidelobe suppression. The realised device is highly efficient, requiring a RF drive power of only 10 mW to achieve complete polarisation conversion. The enhanced drive efficiency of the device is analysed using both acoustic and optical mode analysis. Based on this analysis, possible explanations for the improved behaviour are presented and directions that may lead to further enhancements are discussed. Received: 18 May 2001 / Revised version: 7 August 2001 / Published online: 23 October 2001     

Anisotropic surface relief diffraction gratings under arbitrary plane wave incidence

A modal method is used for the analysis under oblique incidence of a diffraction grating made of anisotropic material. The problem is studied viewing the structure as the cascade of junctions between periodic arrays of anisotropic slab waveguides with the same period and different heights. This diffraction problem is formulated in terms of an integral equation that enforces the continuity of the transverse magnetic field at the junction. The unknown is the transverse electric field at the junction. It is possible to use also another formulation, where the role of the two fields is exchanged. The kernels of these equations are the relevant Green's functions, which are expressed in terms of eigenfunction expansions. The determination of the modes of the various regions composed of arrays of anisotropic dielectric slabs has been carried out by the method of spectral elements, whereby the field components are represented in a polynomial basis and the original differential eigenvalue problem is converted into an algebraic one. The integral equation is solved numerically by the method of moments and each junction is characterized by its generalized scattering matrix (GSM). Finally, the diffraction efficiencies of the grating are obtained by combining the various GSM's.     

Analysis of piezoelectric strip waveguides based on the effective index and pseudospectral element methods

Integrated acousto-optical circuits in LiNbO3 are attractive devices for applications especially in advanced WDM systems. In order to increase the scale of integration and to reduce the RF driving power of these devices, one promising approach is to use acoustical waveguides with smaller lateral dimensions. In this paper the combination of a pseudospectral elements method (PSEM) and an effective index method (EIM) for the analysis of film-loaded surface acoustic waveguides (SAWG's) is presented. Numerical results demonstrate the exponential rate of convergence of the PSEM and agree with the computations performed via the transverse resonance technique. Due to the exponential rate of convergence of the PSEM and to a mapping transformation in the substrate, the piezoelectric problem in the depth direction of the structures is evaluated by a low number of Legendre polynomials. The method is applied to the analysis of several layered SAWG's of practical interest for AO devices, such as metal/SiO2/X - YLiNbO3, in which the metal is either Au, Al, In, or Ti.