The photorefractive effect in directional coupler and Mach-Zehnder LiNbO3 optical modulators at a wavelength of 1.3 μm

Previous work has shown that at a wavelength of 1.3 μm and power levels on the order of a few milliwatts, directional coupler switches show negligible damage due to the photorefractive effect. The author´s experiments at higher power levels (20 mW) show a significant reduction in performance for 1-cm-long directional coupler modulators with uniform electrodes. The reduction in modulation efficiency is in good agreement with a numerical simulation based on the coupled mode equations using index changes estimated from previous work. At similar power levels, Mach-Zehnder modulators showed little effect making them a good design for high power applications. Other electrode structures, such as the reverse Δβ type, might help alleviate the effect in directional couplers. Modulators operating at 1.55 μm should also show less susceptibility to the effect