Claims
- 1. An electrooptic waveguide for an optical signal, said optical signal including both a horizontally oriented component TE and a vertically oriented component TM, said waveguide comprising a plurality of control electrodes, an optical waveguide core, and an electrooptic cladding optically coupled to said optical waveguide core, wherein:
said control electrodes are positioned to generate a contoured electric field across said cladding; said cladding is poled along a poling contour; said cladding defines an array of local TM indices of refraction nTM corresponding to the indices of refraction for said vertically oriented component TM of said optical signal in said cladding; said cladding defines an array of local TE indices of refraction nTE corresponding to the indices of refraction for said horizontally oriented component TE of said optical signal in said cladding; said local TM indices nTM and said local TE indices nTE are each a function of a first electrooptic coefficient rPP for light parallel to a local component of said contoured electric field and a second electrooptic coefficient rlP for light perpendicular to a local component of said contoured electric field; a difference between said first and second electrooptic coefficients rPP and rlP defines an optical birefringence of an electrooptic cladding material defining said cladding; said local TM indices nTM collectively define a TM mode index of said waveguide; said local TE indices nTE collectively define a TE mode index of said waveguide; and said respective orientations of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are configured to compensate for said optical birefringence of said electrooptic cladding material such that said TM mode index of said waveguide is substantially equal to said TE mode index of said waveguide.
- 2. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said contoured electric field and said poling contour are asymmetric relative to a primary axis of propagation defined by said waveguide core.
- 3. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said contoured electric field and said poling contour lie along a common contour.
- 4. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electrooptic cladding defines at least two cladding regions on opposite sides of said waveguide core and wherein said contoured electric field comprises:
a vertical electric field component within a first one of said pair cladding regions that is larger than a vertical component in a second one of said cladding regions; and a horizontal electric field component within said first cladding region that is smaller than a horizontal component in said second cladding region.
- 5. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said waveguide further comprises a controller coupled to said control electrodes; said controller is programmed to operate said control electrodes at a poling voltage and a driving voltage; and said poling voltage and said driving voltage are poled such that contra-directional electric fields are created in said cladding by application of said poling voltage and said driving voltage.
- 6. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said optical waveguide core comprises a material selected from an electrooptic polymer, silica, and doped silica.
- 7. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electrooptic cladding comprises an electrooptic polymer.
- 8. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electrooptic cladding comprises an anisotropic electrooptic material.
- 9. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
at least two of said control electrodes lie in a common edge plane; an axis of symmetry of said control electrodes is perpendicular to said common edge plane; and said core is offset from said axis of symmetry of said control electrodes and from said common edge plane.
- 10. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 9 wherein:
a third electrode of said control electrodes lies in a plane offset from said common edge plane; and said core lies between said common edge plane and said offset plane.
- 11. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; and said waveguide comprises at least two control electrodes lying in parallel planes and said core is positioned between said parallel planes, unequal distances from said control electrodes.
- 12. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; said waveguide comprises at least two control electrodes lying in parallel planes and said core is positioned between said parallel planes; and at least one of said control electrodes is limited to extend for a majority of its width along one side of said core in one of said parallel planes.
- 13. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; said waveguide comprises at least two control electrodes lying in parallel planes and said core is positioned between said parallel planes; one of said control electrodes is limited to extend for a majority of its width along one side of said core in one of said parallel planes; and another of said control electrodes is limited to extend for a majority of its width along another side of said core in another of said parallel planes.
- 14. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 13 wherein said core is positioned unequal distances from said control electrodes.
- 15. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; at least two of said control electrodes lie in a common edge plane and a third control electrode lies in a plane parallel to said common edge plane.
- 16. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 15 wherein said core lies between said common edge plane and said parallel plane.
- 17. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control electrodes define a symmetric configuration.
- 18. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration.
- 19. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; and said core is positioned unequal distances from at least two of said control electrodes.
- 20. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 19 wherein said core is positioned unequal distances from at least three of said control electrodes.
- 21. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
said control electrodes define an asymmetric configuration; and said control electrodes define substantially equal thicknesses and said core is positioned unequal distances from said control electrodes.
- 22. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
at least two of said control electrodes lie in a common edge plane and a third control electrode lies in a plane parallel to said common edge plane; said core lies between said common edge plane and said parallel plane; and said core is positioned unequal distances from said two control electrodes lying in said common edge plane.
- 23. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
at least two of said control electrodes lie in a common edge plane and a third control electrode lies in a plane parallel to said common edge plane; said core lies between said common edge plane and said parallel plane; and said third electrode extends to one side of said core for a majority of its width along said parallel plane.
- 24. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control electrodes are spaced from said core by between about 1 μm and about 10 μm.
- 25. An electrooptic waveguide for an optical signal, said optical signal including a horizontally oriented component TE and a vertically oriented component TM, said waveguide comprising a plurality of control electrodes, an optical waveguide core defining a primary axis of propagation, and an electrooptic cladding at least partially surrounding said core, wherein:
said control electrodes are positioned to generate a contoured electric field across said cladding; said cladding is poled along a poling contour; and at least one of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are asymmetric relative to a plane intersecting said waveguide core and extending along said primary axis of propagation.
- 26. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein said contoured electric field and said poling contour are asymmetric relative to said plane intersecting said waveguide core.
- 27. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 26 wherein said electric field and said poling lines follow a common contour.
- 28. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein said contoured electric field is asymmetric relative to said plane intersecting said waveguide core.
- 29. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein said poling contour is asymmetric relative to said plane intersecting said waveguide core.
- 30. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein said intersecting plane is normal to a surface of said waveguide core.
- 31. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein respective orientations of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are configured to compensate for an optical birefringence of an electrooptic cladding material defining said cladding such that a TM mode index corresponding to the indices of refraction for a vertically oriented component TM of said optical signal in said cladding is substantially equal to a TE mode index corresponding to the indices of refraction for a horizontally oriented component TE of said optical signal in said cladding.
- 32. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 25 wherein said electrooptic cladding defines at least two cladding regions on opposite sides of said waveguide core and wherein said contoured electric field comprises:
a vertical electric field component within a first one of said pair cladding regions that is larger than a vertical component in a second one of said cladding regions; and a horizontal electric field component within said first cladding region that is smaller than a horizontal component in said second cladding region.
- 33. An electrooptic waveguide for an optical signal, said optical signal including a horizontally oriented component TE and a vertically oriented component TM, said waveguide comprising a plurality of control electrodes, an electrooptic optical waveguide core defining a primary axis of propagation, and a cladding at least partially surrounding said core, wherein:
said control electrodes are positioned to generate a contoured electric field across said core; said core is poled along a poling contour; and at least one of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are asymmetric relative to a plane intersecting said waveguide core and extending along said primary axis of propagation.
- 34. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 33 wherein said cladding comprises a substantially non-electrooptic material.
- 35. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 33 wherein said cladding comprises an electrooptic material.
- 36. An integrated optical device comprising an optical input, an optical output, and an electrooptic waveguide for an optical signal, said optical signal including a horizontally oriented component TE and a vertically oriented component TM, said waveguide comprising a plurality of control electrodes, an optical waveguide core, and an electrooptic cladding optically coupled to said optical waveguide core, wherein:
said control electrodes are positioned to generate a contoured electric field across said cladding; said cladding is poled along a poling contour; said cladding defines an array of local TM indices of refraction n™ corresponding to the indices of refraction for said vertically oriented component TM of said optical signal in said cladding; said cladding defines an array of local TE indices of refraction nTE corresponding to the indices of refraction for said horizontally oriented component TE of said optical signal in said cladding; said local TM indices nTM and said local TE indices nTE are each a function of a first electrooptic coefficient rPP for light parallel to a local component of said contoured electric field and a second electrooptic coefficient rlP for light perpendicular to a local component of said contoured electric field; a difference between said first and second electrooptic coefficients rPP and rlP defines an optical birefringence of an electrooptic cladding material defining said cladding; said local TM indices nTM collectively define a TM mode index of said waveguide; said local TE indices nTE collectively define a TE mode index of said waveguide; and said respective orientations of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are configured to compensate for said optical birefringence of said electrooptic cladding material such that said TM mode index of said waveguide is substantially equal to said TE mode index of said waveguide.
- 37. An integrated optical device comprising an optical input, an optical output, and an electrooptic waveguide for an optical signal, said optical signal including a horizontally oriented component TE and a vertically oriented component TM, said waveguide comprising a plurality of control electrodes, an optical waveguide core defining a primary axis of propagation, and an electrooptic cladding at least partially surrounding said core, wherein:
said control electrodes are positioned to generate a contoured electric field across said cladding; said cladding is poled along a poling contour; and at least one of said contoured electric field and said poling contour are asymmetric relative to a plane intersecting said waveguide core and extending along said primary axis of propagation.
- 38. A process wherein an electrooptic waveguide is formed by:
providing a waveguide substrate; positioning an optical waveguide core over a first surface of said substrate; providing a waveguide superstrate; forming at least two control electrodes on a first surface of said superstrate, wherein said control electrodes define selected electrode thicknesses; positioning a viscous electrooptic cladding material over one or both of said first surface of said substrate and said first surface of said superstrate; and urging said first surface of said waveguide substrate and said first surface of said waveguide superstrate toward each other to create a layer of cladding material between said surfaces, wherein
said cladding material defines a cladding material viscosity selected to permit dispersion of said cladding material about said control electrodes and said core as said first surface of said waveguide substrate and said first surface of said waveguide superstrate are urged toward each other, and said cladding material is provided in a quantity sufficient to ensure that said layer of cladding material defines a cladding layer thickness at least as large as said selected electrode thicknesses.
- 39. A process as claimed in claim 38 wherein said control electrodes are formed on a first surface of said superstrate by forming successive electrode plates to said selected electrode thicknesses.
- 40. A process as claimed in claim 38 wherein said control electrodes are formed to define respectively different electrode thicknesses.
- 41. An electrooptic waveguide as claimed in claim 1 wherein said optical waveguide core comprises a substantially non-electrooptic material.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/916,238 (BAT 0036 PA), filed Jul. 26, 2001, and is related to U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. ______ (OPT 0001 PA), filed Mar. ______, 2002, and 09/777,439, filed Feb. 6, 2001, the three disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09916238 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10098730 |
Mar 2002 |
US |