Piezoelectrically induced diffraction modulation of light

A novel technique for efficient amplitude modulation of light is investigated: diffraction modulation by piezoelectrically induced standing wave refractive index gratings in photoelastic crystals. A description is given of the operation of such devices, and expressions predicting the modulation efficiency in terms of material parameters and drive power are derived. Experiments with a lithium niobate crystal have shown that 100% light modulation can easily be achieved with electrical powers of a few tens of milliwatts. Applying higher driver powers creates sharp transmission peaks. Owing to these unique features, this technique is expected to significantly advances the state of the art of actively mode-locked lasers