Wavelength-tunable electrooptic polarization conversion in birefringent waveguides

Author

Heismann, Fred ; Aferness, R.C.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Holmdel, NJ, USA

Volume

24

Issue

1

fYear

1988

fDate

1/1/1988 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

83

Lastpage

93

Abstract

Wavelength-tunable, electrooptic polarization conversion in a birefringent waveguide accomplished with a multiple cascade of alternating TE←→TM mode converter and TE/TM phase shifter sections is analyzed. Such polarization converters have been demonstrated in LiNbO₃ and have been used as electrooptically tunable narrowband (Δλ⩽λ₀/1000) wavelength filters with tuning ranges of at least λ₀/200. It is shown that the polarization converter requires only two independent drive voltages and provides arbitrary polarization transformations from any general input polarization to any desired output polarization with simultaneous wavelength tunability. The device is characterized by its overall transfer matrix and the optical bandwidths and tuning ranges for various electrode geometries

Keywords

birefringence; electro-optical devices; integrated optics; light polarisation; lithium compounds; optical waveguides; LiNbO₃; birefringent waveguides; drive voltages; electrooptic polarization conversion; mode converter; optical bandwidths; phase shifter sections; polarization converters; transfer matrix; tunable narrowband wavelength filters; tuning ranges; wavelength-tunable polarisation conversion; Birefringence; Electrooptical waveguides; Filters; Narrowband; Optical polarization; Optical waveguides; Phase shifters; Tellurium; Wavelength conversion; Wavelength converters;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.97

Filename

97