Suppression of sidelobe levels for guided-wave acousto-optic tunable filters using weighted coupling

An analysis of guided-wave acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTFs) that employ simple acousto-optic (AO) weighted coupling techniques for sidelobe reduction and the calculated and experimental results from a specific example that involves only variation of the width of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) slot waveguide are presented. The calculations on single- and multi-stage AOTFs consisting of an optical channel waveguide and a SAW slot waveguide in LiNbO/sub 3/ substrate show that waveguide width weighting using generalized Hamming functions would provide significant improvement in sidelobe suppression. Calculated results together with the design, fabrication, and measured performance characteristics of a single-stage AOTF that utilizes a weighted-aperture SAW slot waveguide in YX-LiNbO/sub 3/ substrate at the optical wavelength of 1.55 mu m and the acoustic center frequency of 175 MHz are reported. The measured sidelobe level is -13.6 dB and the measured FWHM bandwidth is 26 AA, as compared to the theoretical values of -15.0 dB and 15 AA, respectively. The RF drive power was measured to be 1.0 W at a mode-conversion efficiency of 100%.<>