LiNbO3 optical intensity modulator packaged with monitor photodiode

The assembly technique to simply install a monitor photodiode (PD) with a LiNbO/sub 3/ (LN) Mach-Zehnder modulator in the same package is proposed. A light radiated from the Mach-Zehnder Y-branch toward the LN output facet is lead into a glass bead, which is bonded to the LN facet as a fixture of the optical fiber. The end of the glass bead is cut to have an angled face, and the radiated light is reflected normal to the LN waveguide axis and toward the PD fixed on the side of package. The curved surface of the glass bead is effective to roughly focus the light onto the PD. We demonstrate that such monitor PD outputs an intensity modulation exactly reverse to the LN output modulation with a sensitivity higher than 0.03 A/W per optical output power of LN, indicating a usability of the PD output to monitor the drift of LN modulator.