Electro-optic integration of embedded electrodes and waveguides in LiNbO3 using a femtosecond laser

We describe the fabrication of a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator in LiNbO3 by femtosecond laser micormachining, which is composed of optical waveguides inscripted by a femtosecond laser and embedded microelectrodes subsequently using femtosecond laser ablation and selective electroless plating. A half-wave voltage close to 19 V is achieved at a wavelength of 632.8 nm with an interaction length of 2.6 mm. This simple and cost-effective technique opens up new opportunities for fabricating integrated electro-optic devices. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Fabrication of microfluidic optical waveguides on glass chips with femtosecond laser pulses

We describe the fabrication of microfluidic channel structures on the surface of a borosilicate glass slide by femtosecond laser direct writing for optical waveguide application. Liquid with a variable refractive index is fed into the microchannel, serving as the core of the waveguide. We demonstrate that either a multimode or a single-mode waveguide can be achieved by controlling the refractive index of the liquid. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America

Wave interactions in periodic structures and periodic dielectric waveguides

This work is concerned with a general analysis of wave interactions in periodic structures and particularly periodic thin film dielectric waveguides.

The electromagnetic wave propagation in an asymmetric dielectric waveguide with a periodically perturbed surface is analyzed in terms of a Floquet mode solution. First order approximate analytical expressions for the space harmonics are obtained. The solution is used to analyze various applications: (1) phase matched second harmonic generation in periodically perturbed optical waveguides; (2) grating couplers and thin film filters; (3) Bragg reflection devices; (4) the calculation of the traveling wave interaction impedance for solid state and vacuum tube optical traveling wave amplifiers which utilize periodic dielectric waveguides. Some of these applications are of interest in the field of integrated optics.

A special emphasis is put on the analysis of traveling wave interaction between electrons and electromagnetic waves in various operation regimes. Interactions with a finite temperature electron beam at the collision-dominated, collisionless, and quantum regimes are analyzed in detail assuming a one-dimensional model and longitudinal coupling.

The analysis is used to examine the possibility of solid state traveling wave devices (amplifiers, modulators), and some monolithic structures of these devices are suggested, designed to operate at the submillimeter-far infrared frequency regime. The estimates of attainable traveling wave interaction gain are quite low (on the order of a few inverse centimeters). However, the possibility of attaining net gain with different materials, structures and operation condition is not ruled out.

The developed model is used to discuss the possibility and the theoretical limitations of high frequency (optical) operation of vacuum electron beam tube; and the relation to other electron-electromagnetic wave interaction effects (Smith-Purcell and Cerenkov radiation and the free electron laser) are pointed out. Finally, the case where the periodic structure is the natural crystal lattice is briefly discussed. The longitudinal component of optical space harmonics in the crystal is calculated and found to be of the order of magnitude of the macroscopic wave, and some comments are made on the possibility of coherent bremsstrahlung and distributed feedback lasers in single crystals.

Characteristics of 980/1550 nm WDM coupler based on planar curved waveguides

A wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) for 980/1550 nm based on planar curved waveguide coupler (CWC) is proposed. Compared with conventional parallel straight waveguide coupler (SWC), this structure has more flexibility with two variable parameters of bending radius R and minimum edge-to-edge spacing do, which are the two main parameters for the splitting ratio of coupler and decrease the complexity of device design and fabrication. Based on coupled mode theory (CMT) and waveguide theory, R and do of the WDM CWC are designed to be R = 13.28 m and d(0) = 4.39 mu m. The contrast ratio (CR) and insertion loss (IL) for 980 and 1550 nm are CR1 = 24.62 dB, CR2 = 24.56 dB and IL1 = 0.014 dB, IL2 = 0.015 dB, respectively. The 3D beam propagation method (BPM) is used to verify the validity of the design result. The influence of R and d(0) variations on the device performance is analyzed. For CR > 20 dB, the variation ranges of R and d(0) should be within -0.10 to +0.44 m and -0.05 to + 0.02 mu m, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Prism coupling of ultrashort light pulses into waveguides

We discuss coupling of ultrashort light pulses into waveguides by use of a prism waveguide coupler configuration. Theoretical analysis indicates that an extra loss induced by the short coherence times of ultrashort pulses, which has a strong effect on the reflected light and the optimum coupling condition, appears in the waveguide. Numerical simulations show that the reflectance strongly depends on the coherence times of ultrashort pulses. A method for realizing optimum coupling by compensating for the extra loss is proposed as well in this paper. A preliminary experiment of employing ultrashort pulses with different coherence times was carried out, and good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Construction of the refractive index profiles for few-mode planar optical waveguides

We present a nondestructive technique to predict the refractive index profiles of isotropic planar waveguides, on which a thin gold film is deposited to as the cladding. The negative dielectric constant of the metal results in significant differences of effective indices between TE and TM modes. The two polarized modes and a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) with abundant information of the surface index can be used to construct the refractive index profiles of single-mode and two-mode waveguides at a fixed wavelength. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electromagnetic fields and transmission properties in tapered hollow metallic waveguides

We analyze the electromagnetic spatital distributions and address an important issue of the transmission properties of spherical transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) eigenmodes within a tapered hollow metallic waveguide in detail. Explicit analytical expressions for the spatital distributions of electromagnetic field components, attenuation constant, phase constant and wave impedance are derived. Accurate eigenvalues obtained numerically are used to study the dependences of the transmission properties on the taper angle, the mode as well as the length of the waveguide. It is shown that all modes run continuously from a propagating through a transition to an evanescent region and the value of the attenuation increases as the distance from the cone vertex and the cone angle decrease. A strict distinction between pure propagating and pure evanescent modes cannot be achieved. One mode after the other reaches cutoff in the tapered hollow metallic waveguide as the distance from the cone vertex desreases. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Low-loss planar and stripe waveguides in Nd3+-doped silicate glass produced by oxygen-ion implantation

We report on the fabrication and characterization of low-loss planar and stripe waveguides in a Nd3+-doped glass by 6 MeV oxygen-ion implantation at a dose of 1x10(15) ions/cm(2). The dark mode spectroscopy of the planar waveguide was measured using a prism coupling arrangement. The refractive index profile of the planar waveguide was reconstructed from a code based on the reflectivity calculation method. The results indicate that a refractive index enhanced region as well as an optical barrier have been created after the ion beam processing. The near-field mode profiles of the stripe waveguide were obtained by an end-fire coupling arrangement, by which three quasitransverse electric modes were observed. After annealing, the propagation losses of the planar and stripe waveguides were reduced to be similar to 0.5 and similar to 1.8 dB/cm, respectively. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Planar waveguides formed in a new chemically stable Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass

A new Er(3+)/Yb(3+) co-doped phosphate glass has been prepared, which exhibits good chemical durability and spectralproperties. Planar graded index waveguides have been fabricated in the glass by (Ag+)-Na(+) ion exchange in a mixed melt of silver nitrate and potassium nitrate. Ion exchange is carried out by varying the process parameters such as temperature, diffusion time, and molten salt compositions. The diffusion parameters, diffusion coefficients, and activation energy are determined by the guidelines of fabricated waveguides, which are determined by the input prism coupling technique.