Electro-optic grating modulator

• US 9,335,568 B1
• Filed: 06/02/2011
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: Yap, Daniel, Efimov, Oleg M., Schaffner, James H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bedtelyon, John M
• Application Number:
  US13/151,510
• Time in Patent Office: 1,804 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/011 in optical waveguides, not otherwise provided for in this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/0356 controlled by a high-frequency electromagnetic wave component in an electric waveguide structure
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/065 in an optical waveguide structure
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/127 travelling wave
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/307 Reflective grating, i.e. Bragg grating

Abstract

An optical-waveguide grating modulator is compatible with high-frequency electrical modulation signals of limited bandwidth. The modulator comprises an optical grating formed in an optical waveguide constructed from electro-optic (EO) material and an electrode that is an RF waveguide or RF transmission line that conducts a traveling-wave electromagnetic (EM) field and that contains a portion of the optical-grating waveguide with a continuous grating. The RF input modulation signal is coupled into an RF EM field that propagates through the RF waveguide or transmission line in a direction that is parallel to the direction the light propagates in the optical-grating waveguide and that EM field overlaps the optical-grating waveguide. The light travels along the optical-grating waveguide preferably at the same velocity as the RF EM field travels along the RF waveguide or transmission line.

Claims

1. An optical modulator structure comprising:

an RF waveguide having a first longitudinal axis; and

at least one optical grating waveguide having a second longitudinal axis located within the RF waveguide, the first longitudinal axis being parallel with and substantially coincident with the second longitudinal axis such that, in use, an RF field propagating in the RF waveguide and an optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide propagate in substantially parallel directions, the at least one optical grating waveguide having a grating adapted to provide a notch in a transmission spectrum for the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide and having an operating wavelength of the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide wherein the operating wavelength is selected to occur at a transition from a substantially maximum transmission to greater than minimum transmission in said optical grating waveguide, the optical field propagating, in use, in the optical grating waveguide having an optical group velocity at the operating wavelength;

wherein the RF field propagating, in use, in the RF waveguide has a RF group velocity sufficiently equal to the optical group velocity to obtain a desired amount of amplitude modulation of the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide by said optical modulator.

2. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the grating of the at least one optical grating waveguide has a single uniform grating period and is longitudinally continuous.

3. The optical modulator structure of claim 2 wherein the grating of the at least one optical grating waveguide has a characteristic refractive index difference and wherein the refractive index difference and the grating period are selected to minimize a difference between the optical group velocity and the RF group velocity.

4. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the RF group velocity defines a characteristic time period and wherein the grating of the at least one optical grating waveguide has a length that is greater than one-half the characteristic time period multiplied by the optical group velocity.

5. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the RF waveguide has electrically conductive electrodes on opposing exterior surfaces, the electrically conductive electrodes being spaced from the optical grating waveguide by cladding layers.

6. The optical modulator structure of claim 5 wherein a thickness of at least one of the cladding layers and/or a thickness of the electrically conductive electrodes are selected to minimize a difference between the optical group velocity and the RF group velocity.

7. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the RF waveguide has electrically conductive electrodes on the same exterior surface, the electrically conductive electrodes being spaced from the optical grating waveguide by a buffer layer.

8. The optical modulator structure of claim 7 wherein a thickness of the buffer layer and/or a thickness of the electrically conductive electrodes are selected to minimize a group velocity mismatch between a group velocity of the RF field traveling, in use, in the RF waveguide and a group velocity of the light or optical field traveling, in use, through the optical grating waveguide.

9. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide has a characteristic wavelength and the characteristic wavelength is selected to minimize a group velocity mismatch between a group velocity of the RF field traveling, in use, in the RF waveguide and a group velocity of the light or optical field traveling, in use, through the optical grating waveguide.

10. The optical modulator of claim 1 comprising at least two optical grating waveguides located inside the RF waveguide in a side by side orientation with each having a light receiving end coupled to a different light frequency source.

11. The optical modulator of claim 10 wherein each of the optical grating waveguides have a grating formed therein wherein the gratings formed in different ones of the at least two optical grating waveguides have different grating periods, and wherein the grating periods are selected to minimize a difference between the RF group velocity and an optical group velocity of a first one of the at least two optical grating waveguides and minimize a difference between the RF group velocity and an optical group velocity of a second one of the at least two optical grating waveguides.

12. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 comprising at least two optical grating waveguides located inside the RF waveguide, each of the optical grating waveguides has a grating formed therein wherein the grating formed in a first optical grating waveguide of the at least two optical grating waveguides has a first characteristic index difference and the grating formed in a second optical grating waveguide of the at least two optical grating waveguides has a second characteristic index difference, wherein the first index difference and the second index difference are not equal and are selected to minimize a difference between the RF group velocity and an optical group velocity of the first optical grating waveguide and minimize a difference between the RF group velocity and an optical group velocity of the second optical grating waveguide.

13. The optical modulator structure of claim 1 wherein the operating wavelength of the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide is aligned, in use, to be on one of two edges of said notch in the grating transmittance spectrum.

14. The optical modulator of claim 1 wherein the at least one optical grating waveguide has a single grating so that the at last one optical grating waveguide provides a single notch in the transmission spectrum for the optical field propagating in the at least one optical grating waveguide.

15. An optical modulator structure comprising:

a substrate; and

at least one optical grating waveguide formed of an electro-optic material, the at least one optical grating waveguide having a first longitudinal axis disposed within the substrate and an RF waveguide having a second longitudinal axis disposed on the substrate, the first longitudinal axis being parallel with and substantially coincident with the second longitudinal axis such that, in use, an electric field propagating in the RF waveguide and an optical field propagating in the at least one optical grating waveguide propagate in substantially parallel directions, wherein the at least one optical grating waveguide includes a grating adapted to provide a notch for the optical field propagating, in use, in the optical grating waveguide and the at least one optical grating waveguide having an operating wavelength wherein the operating wavelength is selected to occur at a transition from substantially maximum transmission to greater than minimum transmission, so that as the electro-optic material of the at least one optical grating waveguide reacts to the electric field propagating in the RF waveguide, its transmission spectrum changes in response thereto resulting in amplitude modulation of the optical field propagating, in use, in the at least one optical grating waveguide.

16. The optical modulator of claim 15 wherein the RF waveguide has electrically conductive electrodes on the same exterior surface of the substrate, the electrically conductive electrodes being spaced from the optical grating waveguide by a buffer layer.

17. The optical modulator structure of claim 16 wherein the optical field propagating, in use, in the at least one optical grating waveguide has an optical group velocity at the operating wavelength, wherein the RF field propagating, in use, in the RF waveguide has a RF group velocity, and wherein a thickness of the buffer layer and a thickness of the electrically conductive electrodes are selected to minimize the difference between the optical group velocity and the RF group velocity.

18. The optical modulator of claim 15 where the RF waveguide is a Transverse Electromagnetic RF waveguide comprising a first electrode and a second electrode;

wherein the first electrode and second electrode are disposed on opposite sides of the optical grating waveguide.

19. The optical modulator structure of claim 15 wherein the operating wavelength of the optical field propagating in the at least one optical grating waveguide is aligned, in use, to be on one of two edges of said notch in the grating transmittance spectrum.

20. An RF photonic transmitter comprising:

an RF waveguide formed at least in part of an electro-optic material, the RF waveguide having a first end and a first longitudinal axis and at least one optical grating waveguide with a second end and a second longitudinal axis, wherein the first end is coincident with the second end and the first longitudinal axis is parallel with and substantially coincident with the second longitudinal axis such that an RF field propagating in the RF waveguide overlaps the optical grating waveguide, the optical grating waveguide having a grating adapted to provide a notch in a transmission spectrum of an optical field propagating in the at least one optical grating waveguide and wherein the optical field has an operating wavelength, the operating wavelength being selected to occur at a transition from substantially maximum transmission to greater than minimum transmission;

for each of the at least one optical grating waveguide, an associated laser emitting laser light at the operating wavelength of the at least one optical grating waveguide with which it is associated, the laser light of the associated laser entering its associated optical grating waveguide at the second end and being amplitude modulated as an edge of the notch in the transmission spectrum of the optical field propagating in the associated optical grating waveguide shifts frequency in response to a changing refractive index of said electro-optic material; and

wherein the RF waveguide is adapted to receive an RF signal at the first end for changing the refractive index of said electro-optic material.

21. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 wherein the at least one optical grating waveguide has an optical group velocity at the operating wavelength of the at least one optical grating waveguide;

and wherein the RF waveguide is adapted to have a RF group velocity sufficiently equal to the optical group velocity of the at least one optical grating waveguide to obtain a desired amount of said amplitude modulation.

22. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 where the RF waveguide is a Transverse Electromagnetic RF waveguide comprising a first electrode and a second electrode;

wherein the first electrode and second electrode are disposed on opposite sides of the optical grating waveguide.

23. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 where the RF waveguide comprises a first electrode on the surface of the substrate over the optical waveguide and a second electrode disposed to either side of the optical waveguide.

24. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 comprising at least two optical grating waveguides located inside the RF waveguide, each of the optical grating waveguides having a grating formed therein and wherein the gratings which are formed in different ones of the at least two optical waveguides have the same grating period.

25. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 24 wherein the optical field propagating in a first optical grating waveguide of the at least two optical grating waveguides has a first characteristic wavelength and the optical field propagating in a second optical grating waveguide of the at least two optical waveguides has a second characteristic wavelength, wherein the first characteristic wavelength and the second characteristic wavelength are selected to minimize the difference between the RF group velocity and the optical group velocity of the first optical grating waveguide and minimize the difference between the RF group velocity and the optical group velocity of the second optical grating waveguide.

26. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 wherein a RF signal is applied to the RF waveguide and propagated by the RF waveguide, and wherein the RF signal has a characteristic frequency, wherein the laser-emitted light has a frequency, and wherein the characteristic frequency of the RF signal is equal to the difference between the frequency of the laser-emitted light and the frequency of a portion of the notch in the transmittance spectrum.

27. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20, wherein the transmittance spectrum of said at least one optical grating waveguide has a local transmittance peak or a local transmittance valley, and wherein the characteristic frequency of the RF signal is approximately equal to the difference between the frequency of the laser-emitted light and the frequency of the local transmittance peak or the frequency of the local transmittance valley.

28. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20, wherein the at least one optical grating waveguide includes a first and a second optical grating waveguide disposed parallel to each other, and wherein the laser emitting light into the first optical grating waveguide is a first laser that emits light of a first wavelength and the laser emitting light into the second optical grating waveguide is a second laser that emits light of a second wavelength, and wherein the first wavelength and the second wavelength are different.

29. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 28, wherein the first wavelength and the second wavelength are selected to minimize a group velocity mismatch between a group velocity of the RF field traveling, in use, in the RF waveguide and a group velocity of the light traveling, in use, through the first optical grating waveguide and a group velocity of the light traveling, in use, through the second optical grating waveguide.

30. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 28, wherein the light propagating in the first optical grating waveguide exits said first optical grating waveguide and the light propagating in the second optical grating waveguide exits said second optical grating waveguide, and wherein the light exiting from the first optical grating waveguide and the light exited from the second optical grating waveguide are coupled to a photodetector.

31. The RF photonic transmitter of claim 20 wherein the operating wavelength of the optical field propagating in the at least one optical grating waveguide is aligned, in use, to be on one of two edges of said notch in the grating transmittance spectrum.

32. A method of modulating the intensity of an optical field propagating in an optical modulator structure with an RF field, the optical modulator structure including:

an RF waveguide for propagating said RF field, the RF waveguide having a first longitudinal axis; and

at least one optical grating waveguide having a second longitudinal axis located within the RF waveguide, the first longitudinal axis being parallel with and substantially coincident with the second longitudinal axis such that the RF field propagating in the RF waveguide and an optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide propagate in substantially parallel directions, the at least one optical grating waveguide having a grating adapted to provide a notch in a transmission spectrum for the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide and having an operating wavelength of the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide wherein the operating wavelength is selected to occur at a transition from a substantially maximum transmission to greater than minimum transmission in said optical grating waveguide, the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide having an optical group velocity at the operating wavelength;

wherein the RF field propagating in the RF waveguide has a RF group velocity sufficiently equal to the optical group velocity to obtain a desired amount of amplitude modulation of the optical field.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the optical field propagating in the optical grating waveguide has a characteristic wavelength and the characteristic wavelength is selected to minimize a group velocity mismatch between a group velocity of the RF field propagating in the RF waveguide and a group velocity of the optical field traveling through the optical grating waveguide.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said at least one optical grating waveguide comprises a plurality of optical grating waveguides disposed with elongate axes thereof disposed parallel each other and disposed on a common substrate.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein each of the plurality of optical grating waveguides has an optical field propagating therein, the optical field of each of the plurality of optical grating waveguides corresponding to a different optical carrier frequency.