Efficient wideband guided-wave acoustooptic Bragg diffraction using phased surface acoustic wave array in LiNbO_3 waveguides

Abstract

Efficient wideband guided-wave acoustooptic Bragg diffraction has been demonstrated using a phased surface acoustic wave array in Y-cut LiNbO(3) waveguides. The results of measurement made on the devices which employ the first-order acoustic beam steering from six-element phased-SAWs of relatively small total acoustic aperture, at the center frequency of 325 MHz, have shown that accurate tracking of the Bragg condition is achievable for a frequency band of more than 250 MHz. In one of the deflectors that employ a larger total acoustic aperture, only 68 mW of electric drive power or 3.5 mW of acoustic power was required to diffract 50% of the light over a bandwidth of 112 MHz. This bandwidth is a nearly sixfold increase over that of the deflector that employs a single SAW of identical aperture. The quality of both deflected and undeflected light beams was very good.